Arms seizure in Karachi

The news that the police in Karachi made the biggest seizure, since the start of targeted operations in Karachi three years ago, of a cache of arms and ammunition during a raid on an abandoned house near Nine Zero in Azizabad on Wednesday morning, comes both as a huge sigh of relief and alarm - in equal measure. The weapons, including anti-aircraft guns, sniper rifles, bullet proof jackets, LMGs, SMGs, short SMGs, 11.7mm and 12.7mm guns, repeaters, grenades along with grenade launchers, RPG-7 rockets, rifles, and a huge quantity of ammunition, were all stocked up in an underground storage tank in an abandoned house. These lethal items, according to the police, were procured with money generated through extortion and China-cutting, etc, and also stolen from Nato containers while some of them, such as SMGs and G-III rifles, might have been snatched or stolen from the police.
These weapons were to be used for acts of terror, particularly on the upcoming 9th of Muharram to spread terror in Karachi by some "elements in London in collaboration with the Indian agency, RAW, through a political party network based in South Africa." Mercifully, the plan was foiled in a timely action. Based on disclosures made by a detained suspect intelligence officials concluded that "bigwigs of a political party provided help in procuring these arms and ammunition." Considering the low credibility of police claims and the accusations against Rangers and intelligence agencies of deliberate targeting of the unnamed party's activists, some might want to dismiss the discovery as a mere ruse to further tighten the screws on the party and completely alienate its leadership from its support base. It is pertinent to recall here that in a recent report for a Pakistani newspaper a well-known British journalist, Owen Bennett-Jones, pointed out that during their investigations into Dr Imran Farooq's murder case the British police found, in addition to a large amount of cash, at an Edgware house in North London, a list "itemizing weapons, including mortars, grenades and bomb-making equipment. The list included prices for the weapons". Jones' story clearly substantiates what the Karachi police have said about the discovery and its linkage to "elements in London" while the Scotland Yard's earlier investigations had established a RAW connection with the same elements.
It is about time those still parroting the line that the 'elements' involved in this dirty drama are a 'reality' and hence need to be accorded due recognition and respect reviewed their stance. Nothing is more important than the lives of the people in Karachi or elsewhere in the country. RAW's designs to create trouble in Balochistan and destroy peace in the nation's commercial hub, Karachi, are well-known from what the arrested RAW field commander Kalbhushan Yadav has openly admitted, as well as from the Indian national security advisor Ajit Doval's articulation of his "offensive defence" strategy to break away Balochistan from Pakistan and destabilise the rest of the country through acts of terrorism. It is imperative therefore for all to rise above partisan interests and unite to frustrate any further attempts to cause bloodshed and chaos in this country.