More than 30 per cent of entire police force is deployed to protect 10,000 rich, influential and spoilt individuals
KARACHI: The complex crisis of Pakistan may well be described by a simple picture: three tents and a picket. Right in the middle of one of the posh localities of Karachi, at least a dozen policemen and a police mobile guard just one privileged individual — one of the hundreds of state-sponsored ‘mini militias’ that protect the richest at the expense of the poorest. All citizens are entitled to equal protection of law, says Article 25 of our Constitution. Defying this document, Pakistan deploys more than 30 per cent of its entire police force to protect and pamper less than 10,000 rich, influential and spoilt individuals. The rest must fend for themselves. As long as the state remains interested only in protecting the lives of 0.005 per cent of its population, Peshawar and Charsadda will keep on happening. This nuclear republic finds it easy to throw bombs and bullets on the militants holed up in mountains, but impossible to touch those who are their cohorts in the towns and cities of Pakistan. A government that is still looking for evidence against Lal Masjid, Jamia Hafsa, Jaish-e-Mohammad or Lashkar-e-Taiba, either has a soft corner for militants or is absolutely dysfunctional. Nurturing radical ideologies will only produce more foot soldiers and facilitators — ever ready to participate in misguided adventures.
There are 20 million guns in the hands of civilians in Pakistan. Unable to protect its citizens, the government has resorted to disbursing yet more weapons. Other than Abdul Sattar Edhi and Malala Yousafzai, not many in this country have taken a public position to demand complete elimination of guns and the creation of a weapon-free society. The government, the gun-sellers, the licence-makers and the private security agencies, all have one common product and one common agenda — to sell fear. ‘Immediate relief’ capsules in the form of Kalashnikovs follow suit. As long as the state fails to understand that peace lies in the elimination and not proliferation of weapons, Peshawar and Charsadda will keep on happening.
Naeem Sadiq
Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2016.
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