PPP Sindh Secretary-General Senator Taj Haider called a press conference on Wednesday to respond to HRCP fact-finding mission's report card on the Karachi law and order situation that said the Rangers-led operation launched last September had failed to achieve its targets. Defending his party's government in Sindh, he sufficed, for the most part, to repeat the usual rhetoric about the PPP having made great sacrifices, recalling "the ruins and ashes left by a long military dictatorship against which we have the extreme sacrifice of Shaheed Bibi Sahiba." He went on to pose the question, "how many more PPP martyrs does the HRC need to issue us an ownership certificate of the city?" The HRCP, or for that matter, no one else is casting aspersions on the party's sacrifices in the cause of democracy. The fact-finding mission's focus of attention was something else: ascertaining if the ongoing operation was making progress in restoring peace to Karachi.
In that regard, the commission raised some pertinent concerns to derive the conclusion it has. At a news briefing in Karachi a few days ago, HRCP Secretary General I. A. Rehman had pointed out that the Rangers were asked to lead the operation because at the time of its launching the police were said to lack the capability to prevail over the elements responsible for lawlessness and bloodshed. And that according to HRCP's findings, "throughout the operation nothing has been done to enhance the capacity of the police, with the result that the ad hoc measure has essentially become open-ended and indefinite." All Senator Haider had to say on the issue was to beg sympathies, averring that "the more than 300 policemen who gave their lives for bringing peace in Karachi, their ill-equipped and short number colleagues who remain our first defence line and prime targets for terrorists deserve encouragement, not condemnation." That exactly was the point Rehman seemed to be making. If they are both ill-equipped and short in number, HRCP is right in saying nothing has been done to enhance the police capability to deal with an extremely challenging situation. Words of encouragement will not help, governmental action will.
The rights group's team also held a meeting with the Sindh Chief Minister, and concluded that "the federal and provincial governments have not been on the same page." That observation is corroborated by the recent open tiff between the province and the Centre over the appointment of the police chief. More importantly, Rehman said "there is no independent oversight of the operation, and a promised commission in that respect has not been constituted." Furthermore, he said a redress committee set up by the government had "little credibility" with the result that citizens constantly submitted complaints to the HRCP instead of going to the committee. Responding to this serious issue Senator Taj Haider said the Chief Minister in his meeting with the HRCP team had proposed that specific complaints received directly by the rights group should be shared with the Sindh government so that not only the citizens' grievances are redressed but the violators of human rights can also be punished according to the law. This response overlooks the real issue, that of lack of the government committee's credibility. Considering that HRCP is an independent and impartial rights group, the provincial government must not take umbrage to any of its good-intentioned observations. Instead its fact-finding report should be used to remove weaknesses and improve performance.
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