Extension in special powers: opposition parties put their weight behind Sindh Rangers

Making the role of Pakistan Rangers controversial in Sindh province, particularly this crime-infested city, would be the 'last nail in the coffin of Pakistan People's Party (PPP)". The was stated by PML-N parliamentary party leader in Sindh Assembly Irfanullah Khan Marwat, as the PPP-led provincial government, in collaboration with its old ally MQM, appears to have stirred political hullabaloo to make what Marwat alleged 'controversial' the role of Pakistan Rangers in Sindh.
The Sindh government is said to have decided to extend Rangers' special powers with certain conditions sources said were set in a meeting held between Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan and DG Rangers Major General Akbar Bilal at Governor House Wednesday. If not resolved analysts cautioned the controversy over extension of Rangers' special powers has all the potential to eventuate into a national disaster.
Altaf, who has upon the ruling PPP and provincial lawmakers to send, through introducing a bill in Sindh Assembly against its years-long stay in the province, the paramilitary troops packing, on Wednesday called for holding a public referendum to gauge the public support to Rangers' ongoing operation. On the other hand, PPP too seems reluctant to extend the special powers of Rangers in the violence-prone province, specially Karachi, and is reportedly maneuvering to strike a deal with the paramilitary force to limit it's actions to a level palatable to the PPP leadership.
The PPP-led Sindh government wants the paramilitary force to take on only terrorists, target killers, extortionists and those involved in kidnapping for ransom while the latter has been raiding the government departments like Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA). While PPP and MQM, which form an overwhelming majority in the provincial legislature, have joined hands to cut the tough talking paramilitary force to size, other political stakeholders represented in Sindh Assembly have called for extending the special power of Rangers and its prolonged stay in Sindh.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) and National People's Party (NPP) want the special powers of Rangers extended by the Sindh government. 'We would strongly oppose (in the Assembly) any move against the Rangers which have restored lights of the city after three decades of violence and corruption," Marwat told Business Recorder.
The PML-N leader, seeing PPP and MQM plotting to 'pressurise' Rangers, said Sindh CM Qaim Ali Shah was a veteran politician and should read writing on the wall. "If it made the role of Rangers controversial it would be the last nail in the coffin of People's Party," Marwat commented. He slammed PPP for making the extension to Rangers powers an issue though it has been extending the same after every four months in the past. Nusrat Seher Abbasi, a firebrand lawmaker of PML-F, said the PPP and MQM had long been ruling Sindh to inflict an irreparable damage on the province. "You have all the state institutions to take on corrupt elements but did not act," she wondered.
Terming PPP's rein as most corrupt, Abbasi said the ruling PPP neither itself would take action against corruption nor would it let Rangers to do so. "We would rather demand for enhancement in Rangers' powers," she replied when asked if her party would vote for Rangers' stay in Sindh. NNP's Arif Mustafa Jatoi not only backed Rangers' recent actions in Karachi but said similar operations be replicated in every district of Sindh. "We would support Rangers if any such move came to Assembly," he told Business Recorder.
A relatively practical step came from PTI, which put its weight behind the Rangers in Sindh Assembly. PTI lawmakers submitted a resolution in the Provincial Assembly, which states: This House recommends Government of Sindh to extend special powers of Paramilitary Rangers in Sindh to combat terrorism, target killing, kidnapping, extortion, land grabbing and economic terrorism. Seeing past performance, services and sacrifices of Rangers in Karachi city we must take their help in order to bring peace and stability in Sindh Province."
Reacting to PTI resolution, member of MQM Co-ordination Committee Qasim Ali Raza has said that PTI is an open enemy of the people of Sindh and its capital Karachi. Commenting on the resolution submitted by the PTI in the Sindh Assembly about extension of the powers of Rangers, he said that the PPP and the MQM being the largest political parties would decide on this issue keeping in view the will of the people. Mr Raza said that Rangers is arresting innocent people and implicating them in fabricated case. They are presented in courts like prisoners of war and subjected to inhuman torture in custody, he added.