Criminal elements should be prosecuted regardless of their ethnic and/or political affiliation or backing.
KARACHI: The target killings going on in Karachi have several aspects to them. Let’s start with places like Orangi Town, Qasba Colony, Katti Pahari and Surjani Town. In these places, it seems the fight is more or less between two major political parties, both of whom have a clear stake in Karachi. This is also found in ongoing battles in Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Sachal Goth. Then consider places like Landhi, Malir, Sherpao Colony and Shah Faisal Colony where two groups belonging to the same ethnicity seem to be fighting it out, the objective being to try and make their political views dominant.
Then there is Lyari, which has seen a gang war for quite some time. And over time, primarily because of the government’s lack of response, it has now spilled over into the surrounding areas of Puran Golimar, Pak Colony and Garden East. This is not all. There is also a ‘war’, so to speak, which erupts every now and then in the areas of New Karachi and Ancholi where armed adherents of two sects seems to be on a collision course.
So what does one make of this? The obvious impression that anybody would get is that Karachi has slowly — but surely — become a place riddled with battles of all kinds, and where the government and its law-enforcement apparatus is all but absent.
And what is the way forward? For starters, the government should not take sides, and should not be seen to be taking sides. Criminal elements should be arrested and prosecuted regardless of their ethnic and/or political affiliation or backing. Only then will the city get a chance at returning to any semblance of normalcy.
Ramesh Kumar
Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2011.
