Jahangir's World Times First Comprehensive Magazine for students/teachers of competitive exams and general readers as well.
It is a dream of every patriotic Pakistani to once again make Karachi the ‘City of Lights’. That’s the reason why all the patriotic Pakistanis pray earnestly for the success of the recent rangers-led targeted operation against extortionists, kidnappers, target killers and mafias in Karachi. Pakistan prospers only if the residents of the mega city live in a peaceful and environment.
Hopes and fears abound as the government gets into action to cleanse Karachi from the criminals. There are many hurdles which have to be removed to achieve the desired results in the shortest possible time.
The first formidable obstacle in this regard is the politicization of the Karachi police. It is unprecedented in the history of Pakistan that the police of a big city like Karachi comprise the political cronies and party loyalists. It is believed that after the October 1999 coup, the political parties, which ruled Sindh directly or indirectly in collusion with or with the
blessings of Musharraf, inducted numerous of their committed workers in the police. Sadly, no government chose to purge the force of such elements. So, the police department was never subjected to any accountability that, in turn, promoted the culture of corruption to monumental proportions with Karachi becoming a nightmarish killing field.
Now the burning question is how to overcome this grave impediment. The answer is quite simple. The federal government must persuade the Sindh administration to dump the elements that will fail the operation against criminals. It will be very difficult because the PPP, the incumbent ruling party in Sindh, has a large number of its own favourites recruited to the police over the years. Besides, the PPP has also inducted in police many relatives of influential figures from other departments that have nothing to do with policing. Hence, the prime reason to make the Sindh Rangers in charge of the campaign remains the politicization of police.
At present, the Karachi police are totally demoralized and disheartened. When the State fails to protect the valiant police officers, like the ones who conducted the previous operations in Karachi, and does not look after their heirs after their assassinations following the winding up of the drive, the force would be dispirited and dejected and would not dare to take the plunge again. As suggested by some noted retired police officials, it is the fundamental duty of the State to first honour the assassinated police officers by providing succour to their heirs at the time when the government has launched another operation. It is an undeniable fact that over 200 police officers, who had actively taken part in the previous operations, were gunned down one by one, and none of their killers was ever arrested.
One proof of the provincial administration’s lukewarm attitude to the drive is its stubbornness not to replace the incumbent Inspector General Police (IGP) and chief secretary of Sindh for the mere reason that they dance to its tunes. To win the war against heartless goons, it is absolutely essential to replace the top hierarchy of police and bureaucracy with people of integrity because the present lot will persist with creating more and more impediments instead of making any productive contribution to do the ticklish job. The federal government expresses its helplessness to bring about radical changes in police and bureaucracy of Sindh, and argues that it is the sole domain of the provincial administration.
While firming up the strategy to kick-start the operation in Karachi, at least four committees have been formed to perform different functions. One thing that has to be kept in mind is that none of these bodies should be allowed to create barriers in the operation. Rather they should make useful contribution to dispense with the unchallenged rule of the criminals. The basic purpose of constituting these committees is to suggest amendments in the laws, to beef up coordination among different arms of the law enforcement agencies and administration, engaged in carrying out the campaign, and to see no innocent is unnecessarily inconvenienced or implicated. What would be the most important for the members of these forums would be their intention to produce the intended results of the operation. If they start looking after the interests of their party-men, who would be arrested for their involvement in heinous crimes, the very campaign would miserably fail.
There are reports that several wanted criminals from amongst the identified 450 gangsters have fled Karachi and taken refuge elsewhere fearing that they would be netted in the operation. They should be chased wherever they are and arrested to bring them to justice for the cruelties they have committed on the people of Karachi. It is a good move that the Federal and Sindh government are determined to adequately arm the Rangers and Police with the required weapons to meet the challenge.
