Karachi has seen so much violence on the watch of this government that it is almost impossible to keep count of the number of people killed in ethnic and sectarian violence, or while resisting extortionists' demands. Fresh violence erupted on Tuesday after some people forced their way into the house of an MQM activist and killed him and his brother.
The murders, apparently, were connected to the earlier murder of two People's Aman Committee members in Lyari and later an ANP man who, for some reason, made an appearance at a MQM poetry recital and was shot dead. The killing of the MQM activist and his brother was followed by a familiar violent protest pattern of arson attacks on buses and rickshaws, even a police van. By the day's end, another eight people lay dead and some 40 vehicles torched.
The country's commercial capital presents a fearsome picture. People keep dying in targeted killings as well as random violence; journalists are not spared either; businesses feel harassed, many have shifted to safer environs. Fresh investments are shying away from such lawlessness. Violent men destroying the city's peace are backed by influential people sitting in the province's coalition government. Yet those who matter are reluctant to call a spade a spade, and blame everything on criminal elements unbeknown to the main political players. Notably, in the October 6, 2011 Supreme Court judgment on the Karachi situation, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry quoted intelligence agencies' reports that said some criminal groups operating in the city enjoyed political backing; and that these elements had also become part of the political parties. Those involved in extortion activities, according to the said reports, included the MQM, ANP, PPP as well as the Jamaat-e-Islami and some banned religious outfits.
The city's business community observed a shutter down strike a few days ago to protest increasing cases of extortion, hoping that the government would grasp the gravity of the situation and do something about it. That proved to a vain hope. Interior minister Rehman Malik, the proud recipient of Nishan-e-Imtiaz on this year's Pakistan Day celebrations for "remarkable service in the field of law enforcement", told members of the business community - as he had told journalists on an earlier occasion - to take charge of their own security. Urging them "not to go for strike calls but fight the extortion menace with the government" he promised issuance of arms licences, adding "I assure you a quick and easy arms licence process." Thus indirectly the minister, decorated for his 'remarkable service' to law enforcement work, made it plain that neither the interior ministry nor the provincial government would do much to help Karachi's commerce and industry people, and that they had to fend for themselves. To put it differently, the government has failed to fulfil its constitutional responsibility to protect the life and property of the people, and admits its failure, too.
A press report points out that as part of arm-the people-to-defend-themselves policy, Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wassan generously distributed arms licences, issuing as many as 16,631 permits in his first six months in office he assumed in July 2011. The number must be much higher by now, yet the crime rate has spiked exponentially. It would not be surprising if the policy has actually been fueling violence.
One wonders how this government expects ordinary law abiding citizens to engage in gun fights with criminals. First of all, not everyone can handle firearms. Second of all, those who can will be no match for extortionists who move in organised gangs. Think of a businessman facing extortionists. It is not difficult to imagine who would lose in the event of a shoot-out, those trained to produce goods and services and sell merchandise or criminal gangs acting secure in the knowledge that they would be protected by their influential backers.
Admittedly Karachi, a city of nearly twenty million, is not easy to govern. Its lure of economic opportunities has attracted people from all over the country, creating additional tensions in an already uneasy ethnic mix. A steady influx from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has upset its old ethnic balance and made the ANP, to MQM's chagrin, claimant of a political role.
Both at the provincial and federal level the PPP-led government has been pursuing what it calls a policy of reconciliation, which is needed more in Karachi than anywhere else. Yet it has failed to have its two coalition partners, namely the MQM and the ANP, agree to some kind of an understanding on coexistence in Karachi, letting the city slide into chaos. Those fighting for control bristle at any expression of concern over violence, especially if it comes from the other provinces. The usual retort being that there is crime and violence in other provinces, too. Yes, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa confronts persistent violence but not because of what the political players there are doing, it is a blowback from the war across the border. And the security forces are pursuing the militants. Balochistan is a different story. Punjab's example could be more relevant. There sectarian violence is a serious threat, and the common crime rate high as well. But compared to Karachi and wider Sindh, it is a very peaceful place.
After Tuesday's carnage, both the ANP and the MQM accused one another of starting the violence, thus confirming what independent observes have believed for long: that the two parties are fighting turf battles and neither is willing to give ground to the other. The PPP-led government is both unwilling and unable to break the fight. Exigencies of power are a hindrance. It does not want to annoy either coalition partner. All the party does is to dispatch Rehman Malik who, as is obvious from his dangerous scheme to arm citizens for self-protection, is no famous problem solver; he focuses only on shoring up support for the government.
So what is the way forward? The city's police is too politicised to handle the situation. The CJ noted in the SC verdict that the province's Inspector General of Police had informed him that 40 percent of the police officials had been recruited on political grounds, and hence he was reluctant to act decisively. That leaves the option of using the Rangers or the Army. Every now and then, the government orders the Rangers in and out of the troubled areas, but such half-hearted measures have not helped. The ANP wants the Army to come in to the aid of civilian authority and restore peace while the MQM is deadly opposed to the proposal. In any event, the Army can restore peace for the short run. Once it leaves, the problem will return. The key to a lasting solution lies in the hands of the political contenders. They need to realise that they cannot wish the other away and hence must learn to give space to one another. Sooner or later they will have to accept that reality.
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