Need for Kacha clean-up

The recent attack on policemen by gangsters operating in the Rahim Yar Khan area of Punjab is a stark reminder of the persistent threat posed by criminal elements in these regions. The most recent flare-up came in the form of an outrageous rocket attack on police vehicles, which led to the martyrdom of 12 policemen and injuries to scores of others.

That alone should bring shame to senior law enforcers and policymakers. While religious and separatist militants along the Afghan border have been known to use such weapons, the fact that gangs hundreds of kilometres away from the border also have easy access to those weapons is simply incomprehensible. We should also note that a recent news report said law enforcers were dragging their feet on any operation because the criminals were far better equipped than the local police.

But it is not just failure to establish the writ of the state. Recent news reports suggest that the police are actively taking sides in the local gang war by supporting specific groups, hoping that the gangsters will just kill themselves off. But even if this strategy were not a ludicrous dereliction of the state's authority, good old-fashioned corruption means that several police stations are "cooperating" with different gangs, giving the criminals free rein to murders, kidnappings and robberies. A few months back, a local primary school teacher became famous for carrying a shotgun to protect his students because the police can't, or won't, even protect schoolchildren. That teacher was later killed by gangsters.

Successive governments have run security operations in the region, but the results are always subpar. While law enforcers' claims that it is difficult to chase criminals in the heavily forested area are based in truth, the entire point of a special operation is to do things beyond the scope of everyday police operations. An honest and coordinated effort is needed from the Sindh and Punjab governments to clean up their police departments and purge the Kacha region of criminal infestation.