Ideal worlds are ever-mythical in the context of Pakistan, and the ideal world where civilian police and security agencies were uncorrupt and apolitical is a bigger myth than most. Any expectation that Karachi, a city decades overdue for a clean-up, both literally and metaphorically, was going to have its face washed and gutters cleaned by civil agencies is a pie in the sky. The entry of the Rangers, a paramilitary force, into the realm of civilian policing is far from the ideal to say the very least, but given the alternatives that the Sindh government has left us with, there seems to be no other way to clean up the mess in Karachi as of now. The struggle between the federal government in Islamabad and the provincial government in Karachi over the Rangers’ powers is, therefore, quite disturbing.
The politicians in Sindh and specifically Karachi have sought to limit the power of the Rangers, specifically forbidding them to move against politicians in respect of investigations of corruption nor arrest any member of the Sindh cabinet or raid any government office in the future. The federal government had taken its eye off the ball in respect of the Rangers’ powers and the politicians of Sindh, who of course are as white as fresh snow, had slipped under the radar to protect their pristine bodies from the investigators. ‘Begone foul Rangers’ quoth they ‘…and never darken our doors again.’ Having none of this, the federal government moved unilaterally and extended the Rangers’ powers by 60 days, and both sides now occupy entrenched positions and communicate via clenched teeth and pasted-on smiles.
The prime minister is to send Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar to Karachi within the week to “sort out” the matter. In all likelihood, the federal government will have its way as the options for the Sindh government are limited. If the politicians of Sindh really wanted to redeem themselves, they could treat this contretemps as an opportunity rather than a threat, and do the necessary cleansing of the police and other agencies themselves — in all probability a faint hope. Thus, there seems to be no choice right now, but for the Karachi operation to continue. What the federal government needs to do, however, is address the perception that corrupt elements within political parties of Sindh are the only ones being targeted. Corruption is a national problem and that must be recognised.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2016.
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