Last month, various cases pertaining to the law and order situation in Balochistan being heard by a three-member bench at the Supreme Court's Quetta registry included a suo motu notice on the kidnapping of Dr Ghulam Rasool on his way back from work at the Bolan Medical Complex in Quetta. The doctor was released a couple of weeks later, following a strike by doctors in the city's hospitals.
Reports, though, suggest he came home after paying ransom. Expressing indignation on the case as also the rising incidence of abductions for ransom, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry made the telling observation that "unless and until outlaws rings involved in kidnapping for ransom are brought to justice and the captors set abductees free, without the payment of ransom demanded" the writ of the government could not be deemed as satisfactory in the province.
Unfortunately, however, the menace is not restricted to Balochistan. Of late, there have been numerous cases of kidnapping in Karachi. The target is mostly well-to-do businessmen. The roads leading to the industrial areas, particularly Korangi and Landhi, are the worst affected. During the recent weeks, there have been several incidents mainly involving the family members of prominent industrialists. These incidents generally go unreported because the families are too scared about the safety of their near and dear ones and prefer to pay the money demanded by the abductees rather than to take any risks. One reason criminal elements operating in the city have turned their attention to kidnapping is the provincial government's failure to end violence perpetrated by criminal gangs patronised by one or the other political party sitting in the ruling coalition. Lax control has made both extortion and kidnappings a lucrative activity. According to a well informed source, criminal gangs operating in the city collected a staggering Rs 3 billion from extortion and kidnapping during the last two years.
Some of the perpetrators of course are common criminals, but others belong to syndicates having connections to the country's lawless tribal badlands. In fact, a significant cause for the increasing incidence of this harrowing crime seems to be the post-9/11 tightening of rules on money transfers as well as frequent crackdowns on poppy cultivation and heroin trade - sources used by extremists to finance terrorism.
The recent spate of abductions in Karachi, needless to say, has had a devastating effect on the business community's morale. There is already a feeling within the business community of raising a private army, as was done in the Philippines, to protect them as they justifiably feel that the state has abysmally failed to provide protection to their life and property. If something is not done to banish the threat soon, it would not be surprising if business starts raising a private army and also moving their businesses, that can be shifted to safer environs be they other parts of the country or even abroad. There is no room for complacency. Yet the unsavoury reality is that both the bureaucracy and the police are highly politicised, and hence are protective towards offenders associated with their respective favourite sides. Not too long ago, the provincial police chief had told a special bench of the apex court during suo motu hearings on the Karachi unrest that he could do little to restore peace in the city because 40 percent appointments in police had been made on the basis of political considerations. And of course the city is brimming with all sorts of arms and ammunition. The situation being what it is, no half-hearted measure can help. First and foremost, an honest and concerted effort is needed to depoliticise the police, and end the practice of granting 'shoulder promotions' to undeserving officers. Only then can a grand operation against all sorts of criminal elements succeed in the city.
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