Karachi, economy of this country bleed because we have allowed crime to flourish and black economy to be patronised.
LAHORE: The only solution to rid Karachi of terrorism and crime is the ruthless application of the rule of law with no space to criminals for evading exemplary punishments befitting the crimes committed. Organised street crimes, extortion, torture cells, planned targeted killings, land mafia and kidnappings for ransom started in Karachi in the 1980s, long before the Taliban came on the scene. Ziaul Haq left behind a legacy of drugs, weapons, heinous crimes and massive corruption in this country, while Ayub Khan set the pace for despotic military dictatorships, laying the foundation for chaos, institutionalised corruption and mayhem in our cities and towns. Instead of learning from our mistakes, we have resorted to brutal distortion of truth and history, concealing facts and giving space to crooks within our political elite and bureaucracy.
Karachi and the economy of this country bleed because we have allowed crime to flourish and the black economy to be patronised by those who hold power — having sworn to uphold the Constitution, yet doing everything they can to hold it in abeyance, making laws slave to whims of crooks and criminals. Any journalist who dares to expose the truth is hounded by known warlords of this city.
The Taliban have now become part of the problem and there will be many more such criminals, given the assured tax-free billions made by the booming criminal economy of the financial hub of Pakistan. You don’t need a consensus to enforce the writ of the law, or punish murderers, kidnappers, extortion collectors, land grabbers; you just need enactment of laws enabling anti-terrorism courts to convict criminals with forensic and intelligence evidence available, since no witness will dare to come forth because of the fate that witnesses have met in the past for exposing criminals.
Malik Tariq Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2013.
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