Unrest in Karachi: Malakand-style operation urged

K-P minister wants indiscriminate deweaponisation.

SWAT:

The Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa (K-P) information minister, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, has demanded a ‘Malakand-style army operation’ in Karachi to purge the city of ‘terror mongers’. “Since the police and paramilitary forces have failed to restore order, an army operation is indispensible,” Hussain told journalists in Mingora, Swat’s main town, on Wednesday.

He rejected the allegation that weapons were being supplied to Karachi from K-P. “Weapons are openly supplied to Karachi by sea routes. All these routes should be blocked first,” he said.

Hussain added that the Awami National Party (ANP) was in favour of de-weaponising Karachi.

“This de-weaponisation should be indiscriminate. One community alone should not be targeted. We are ready to volunteer ourselves – the security forces should begin the process from Pakhtun-dominated areas,” he added.

Hussain said the ANP was pained to see unrest and target killings in Karachi.

Hussain also credited the ‘bold decisions’ of the ANP-led government in K-P for restoring peace in Malakand Division. “Restoration of peace in Malakand is a success story,” Hussain said, adding, perhaps ambitiously, “An example of this success cannot be found in history.”

Interestingly, in the same breath, he said that the hard-won peace in the region is transient. “Anybody claiming that the current spell of peace is durable or lasting is wrong,” he said.

Spelling out his party’s strategy to weed out terrorism, Hussain said that Taliban insurgents should either renounce violence and come to the negotiating table, or face decisive military action.

“Bilateral talks are our priority. But if dialogue does not work out, then effective and indiscriminate operations should be started against terrorists,” he added. “It’s a battle for our survival. It’s the battle for the survival of humanity.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2012.