It has been 19 years since Operation Clean-up in which 30,000 army and paramilitary personnel were deployed to help the Sindh government restore law and order. On Wednesday, this newspaper reported that paramilitary forces have made a strong-worded offer to the government: Give us one new helicopter, 800 bulletproof jackets and a free hand in Karachi, and we will eliminate target killing within one month. The news coincided with a decision by the Sindh government to extend the power of the paramilitary Rangers for three more months because of the incessant violence in Karachi.
With these special powers, the Rangers can search and arrest but they cannot file FIRs. In essence, they can ferret out criminals but cannot prosecute them. Some people would argue that this does not constitute a “free hand”. The Express Tribune spoke to residents of Karachi’s troubled spots, politicians and the police to try and assess this issue: Should the Rangers be given a free hand?
MQM
Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Farooq Sattar says the Rangers may be able to do the job “temporarily”, but in the long-run one needs the civilian law-enforcement authorities to get their act together.The police is highly politicised and doesn’t have the capacity to act independently.
Before November 2008, even the term ‘target killing’ was alien to people, says Sattar. He said his party had demonstrated to the people of Karachi what they could do if they were given the powers that they once enjoyed under Musharraf’s regime, when it ran the home department. “I think we did respectfully well and established peace,” he says.
ANP
Awami National Party’s Bashir Jan also said target killings would not stop until the institutions responsible for security were made truly independent. “We live in times when even the home minister is forced to go on a sick leave at the behest of some other party’s reservations, so what can you expect even if the Rangers are given a so-called free hand,” he said.
For Bashir Jan, the police is so politicised today that every officer worries for his job if he apprehends a correct suspect. “It is a fact that all the officers who were involved in the 1992 operation have been bumped off, so how do you expect them to be independent,” he said, adding that whether the 1992 operation was right or wrong is another debate. He said the ANP would prefer the police over the Rangers to take care of the precarious situation only when it becomes independent as an institution.
PPP
For Pakistan Peoples Party’s Taj Haider the law-enforcement agencies have already been given a free hand. “Recent arrests are testament to that fact,” he says. However, the Rangers alone can’t do the job and there needs to be a coordinated effort that involves all stakeholders, including the police, Rangers and the intelligence agencies. The public too needed to be taken into confidence and needs to tip the authorities off on the murderers.
Journalist
Veteran journalist Idrees Bakhtiar, who has written extensively about Operation Clean-up in 1992, says that the Rangers had been given powers beyond their mandate since 1995, but their performance over the years has clearly demonstrated that crime in the city hasn’t gone down, but has in fact increased manifold. He said no amount of money or helicopters for the Rangers would solve the problem.
Gulistan-e-Jauhar resident
Rizwan Hashmi, a resident of Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 20 believed that, “there would be no change and they [Rangers] are only trying to get money and equipment from the government”. “They are cowards. I saw them fleeing from Pehlwan Goth several times during encounters. Usually, they arrive on the crime scene at least half an hour late.”
Lyari residents
Some residents of Lyari welcome an extension in the Rangers’ powers. “Of course, they should be given a free hand,” said Shafi Baloch. “The Rangers can clear the city of all criminal elements. We should give them a chance at least once.”
In 2005, the Rangers played a vital role in protecting Lyari and its surrounding areas from the gangster ‘mafia’. At that time, the people of Lyari appreciated them because they did not hurt or misbehave with anyone and this time they would give them a chance again.”
Orangi resident
The Rangers are responsible for target killings, maintained Amir Shahzad, an LLB student and shopkeeper at Faqir Colony, Orangi. He felt that they actually sheltered target killers. “A month ago, they [Rangers] held an operation against criminals in Orangi Town, but they informed the criminals a day in advance and they all left the area before the operation,” he alleged. “The Rangers ended up arresting other [innocent] people and put them into jail [on charges of illegal possession].” Shahzad felt that if the government really wanted peace, it would hand over control to the army, which could carry out a “fair operation”.
Some Orangi Town residents also support the Rangers. “You have no idea what the Rangers can do,” said resident Kashif Naeem. “It is a different situation now because the Rangers have asked the government for empowerment. In the 1990s, the government gave them powers on its own.”
Naeem supported his judgment by drawing parallels with the army. “The Rangers is a paramilitary force, which is like the army and everyone knows what the army is,” he said. Only the residents of Orangi can tell you how the violence is affecting them. “I know how I go to work and how I return home every day.”
Bashir Khan, the owner of an electronics shop at Aligarh Bazaar, Orangi, said it was up to the government to decide which department could do the job. “[But] all policemen know who the criminals and target killers are in their areas,” he maintained.
Banaras resident
Dr Qasim Mehmood, the administrator of Jamia Islamia Makhzanul Uloom in Banaras, said he welcomed every move by the government in its attempt to bring peace. He was of the view that a Rangers operations might create problems for some people but in the long run, the operation was necessary.
Rangers
A Rangers jawan, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to comment, said that it is not only the Rangers but all law-enforcement agencies who have asked the government to give them a free hand. “I know it is not the same Karachi as the 1990s and I know we would have to face much retaliation. The operation in the 1990s was against only one political party and now we have to launch an operation against elements belonging to various political, religious and criminal parties.”
Chief of police
“I think there should be a proper criminal justice system and a proper investigation system,” said CCPO Saud Mirza. Mirza has faith in the relations between the police and the Rangers but he hopes that they can rise above political influences.
with additional reporting by Sohail Khattak
Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2011.
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