Sea-front office: Residents’ society, security task force row over office space

The society accuses the Rangers Special Task Force of illegally occupying a part of the premises.

KARACHI:

Karachi Corps Commander has directed the personnel of the Rangers Special Task Force (RSTF) to evacuate the office premises of the Sea View Residents Society (SRS) as soon as possible.

The RSTF, set up to deal with incidents of extortion and kidnapping, came under fire soon after its formation for allegedly illegally occupying an office premises that housed the employees and volunteers of the SRS.



The office premises in question, is a 200-square-foot block that houses five rooms. It was commissioned and built in 2006 and is located adjacent to the police check post on main Sea View Road. The very next year, the society invited the Citizens Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) and the police to share the office space with them.

Later in the year, however, the police and CPLC were asked to evacuate the premises due to internal rifts. The society also took back most of the equipment such as motorcycles that it had given to the police personnel to patrol the area.

Since then, the residents’ society had been running the office on their own, looking after the security and upkeep of the apartment blocks. This continued until July this year, when personnel of the Rangers Task Force appeared in the office one day and have encamped there since.

The residents’ society took the matter to the Karachi Corps Commander, asking for his help to get the office evacuated. They explained to the army official how they had gone door-to-door to collect funds to build the wall that provided a layer of security to over 4,000 residents.

“This office was part of the setup, providing security to the residents living there,” Aziz Suharwardy, the SRS convener told The Express Tribune. The Corps Commander has assured them that the Rangers will relocate themselves to some other place and their office will be vacated soon.

Sea View Residents Society

The SRS came into prominence after its members lobbied for a wall to be built from B-Street to Khayaban-e-Bahria, encircling the around 900 apartments in the Sea View Township. The decision to construct the wall was taken in meeting between the then DHA administrator, Brigadier Asif Ghazali, and members of the SRS. The aim was to add a layer of security for the residents of the Sea View Township.

The wall was duly built and from then on, the society has taken upon itself the responsibility of providing security to the residents. In return, the residents pay a fixed monthly charge - funds that are spent on salaries of guards and other expenses.

Rangers Special Task Force

The special force was established in the wake of the surge in incidents of kidnappings for ransom and extortion in last Ramazan. It has a director, two deputy directors, 15 assistant directors and 10 other employees. Former officials and employees of the CPLC, who had quit the committee over internal disputes, had joined hands with the Sindh Rangers to set up the task force. The CPLC’s former employees are helping with the technical side of the force’s operations while the Rangers are looking after the operational side.

“We have no objection to vacating the premises and do not want to be part of any conspiracy,” RSTF director Najeeb Dana Wala told The Express Tribune. “We did not forcefully occupy the office and were using it temporarily,” he said, adding that they had received instructions from the Corps Commander to vacate the premises. “We are just waiting for the Rangers DG to allot the new premises for our relocation.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2014.