The recent spurt in target killings in Karachi has again highlighted the issue of the easy availability of weapons to criminal elements. The incidence of target killing in the city has risen over the last two years. Statistics collected by the Human Rights of Commission Pakistan indicate that during the first six months of 2009, there was a 26 percent rise in the killings of political activists compared to the same period in 2008.
In the first half of 2008, says the report; gunmen killed 76 political workers, while the figure rose to 100 in the first six months of 2009. Mortality figures have continued to rise meanwhile. According to a report in an English daily on January 5, a high-level meeting presided over by Rehman Malik, was informed that in the last six months beginning July 1, 2009, 256 target killings took place in Karachi. This indicating a more than a hundred percent rise.
The victims comprised of workers belonging to various political parties, including those in the ruling coalition, social activists and unsuspecting pedestrians with recognisable ethnic backgrounds. The land mafia killed Nisar Baloch of the Save the Gutter Baghicha movement allegedly. So was Nadir Baloch, who replaced him as the leader of the organisation.
A number of policemen have also fallen victim to the upsurge in killings. Who are the killers? Political leaders at the upper level hesitate to directly accuse their allies, who they simultaneously consider their rivals. There is however, a lot of finger pointing at the lower level. The fact that a large number of those killed are political activists, political rivalry is obviously a major reason behind the killings. Innocent people have also fallen victim to the bullets of land grabbers, drug pushers and other types of criminals.
What is alarming is that the criminals have access to all types of lethal weapons from TT pistols to Kalashnikovs. A police armoured vehicle was recently subjected to a rocket attack, killing two. While there are no official statistics, rough estimates in 2001 indicated Karachi had around 300,000 Kalashnikovs alone.
As small arms like TT pistols, revolvers and shotguns are much cheaper and they can be also acquired through regular licenses, their number could run into seven or eight figures. Arms are available legally and through illicit channels. Anyone having money and contacts can acquire them from both sources.
Significantly, there was a surge in the sale of arms in Sindh months before the 2008 election. An English daily-reported a 1500 percent increase of registered weapons in Sindh during the period. An arms dealer in Saddar, Karachi, told the reporter, "Say an arms' dealer used to sell one gun to one person in one day previously. The same dealer is now selling guns to 15 persons in the current circumstances"
Instead of curbing the arms supply, which was all the more required in view of the ongoing fight against terrorism, government policies have helped in their spread. Arms licenses have been issued on a large-scale. Early this month, Senate Standing Committee on Interior summoned State Interior Minister Tasneem Qureshi over issuing 5,986 prohibited-bore licenses in just two months.
The committee was told 26,000 'fake' licenses were issued to unknown people with the collaboration of certain corrupt officials. It was also informed that "Each senator, member of National Assembly and member of Provincial Assembly can avail 25 non-prohibited bore licenses every year, out of which 75 percent have availed it," This would roughly indicate the induction of nearly 20,000 fresh weapons in the country.
Besides there is a flourishing illegal trade in weapons. Some of the registered arms sellers are reported to be involved in selling arms to unauthorised persons. The bulk of illegal arms however, come from gangs of inter-provincial arms smugglers who sell them to both registered and unregistered arms sellers. The latter, either sell them or provide them on hire.
A newspaper report dealing with illegal arms trade notes, "A pistol that costs around Rs 20,000 can now be acquired on rent for Rs 150 an hour if a person has the right references. Most people get pistols on rent on the pretext that they want to use them at weddings, but they instead use them in incidents of roadside snatching. It's just like renting a motorbike".
There are many that believe that there is dire a need to deweaponise the city if the escalating violence is to be brought to an end. Rehman Malik said in Karachi, a few days back, the government is considering to launch a deweaponisation campaign and might even consider the cancellation of official licenses. . While in Karachi, in May last, Gilani had also called on the Sindh Home Minister to check illegal arms supply in the metropolis.
The idea of deweaponization is by no means new. Four deweaponsization campaigns have been launched in the past three decades without much success. In the mid 1980s, General Zia's military regime announced Operation Sohrab Goth. The attempt fizzled out without yielding any major breakthrough.
Benazir announced Operation Clean Up during her second tenure. Interior Minister Babar reportedly offered arms smugglers heavy cash incentives in exchange for information about their clients in Sindh, especially in Karachi. There was a perception that the strategy had partially succeeded in curbing the arms flow to Karachi and several dealers in the city were identified and apprehended.
The third deweaponization campaign was undertaken during Nawaz Sharif's second term in office, but it was largely confined to the media and no major operation on the ground was launched to seize illegal arms. The fourth campaign was launched under Musharraf in the mid 2001. This time the government invoked the Draconian Surrender of Illicit Arms Act 1991, with stringent penalties including life imprisonment for those in possession of illegal arms.
A commentator in a respectable Karachi magazine thus summarised its failure: "Despite the frenetic campaign however, which must have cost the government millions of rupees, the number of weapons surrendered by June 20 is no more than a drop in the ocean. According to the final tally announced by the Ministry of Interior at the end of its 15-day deadline, a total of 51,074 weapons have been relinquished in all four provinces.
According to the province-wise break-up, Punjab recorded the highest number of surrendered arms with 40,496 weapons being handed over, while in the entire Sindh province, which has been the most volatile of all the four provinces, only 1,113 weapons were given up (in Karachi, where according to one estimate, the number of Kalashnikovs alone is said to be 300,000, only 374 weapons of all types were surrendered).
As for the NWFP and Balochistan, which have been the traditional sources of supply for arms and ammunition all over the country, only 7,983 and 1,491 weapons respectively have been surrendered."
Lack of political will and inadequacy of the law-enforcement agencies have over the period, stood in the way of making Karachi a weapons-free city. Both military regimes and civilian administrations have been prisoners to political exigencies. Military rulers, desperately looking for political support have tolerated armed groups. They have, at times, encouraged the creation of such groups to keep certain opponents under control.
This has turned out to be a highly dangerous policy for it has led to a phenomenal spread of arms in Karachi. Naturally, these groups had to be given concessions. This led to a further spread of arms. Violation of weapons-related laws continue to be tolerated. Display of weapons, banned numerous times, has been made a part of political culture.
The police, meanwhile, remain under-staffed, over-worked, ill-trained and demoralised. Even Rehman Malik acknowledged this last week. The Police, he said was not equipped to deal with the type of widespread loot and arson that followed the Ashura mayhem.
As things stand, the police force is simply incapable of checking every one of the thousands of trucks entering Karachi from upcountry. It is not in a position to verify the authenticity of licenses of all weapons kept by the people either.
There is a need to strengthen weapons-related laws to control both the supply and demand sides. What is equally important is to enforce the laws already on the statue book. The police force has to be strengthened, better trained and the incidence of corruption in its ranks reduced. Weapons, however, cannot be fully brought under control as long as the political will to improve the situation is lacking. So along as law and order remain hostage to political exigencies, it would be difficult to bring peace to Karachi.
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