Let us have a charter of peace

One of the principal tasks expected of charter signatories would be to disarm militant wings of political groupings.

In the first week of August, troubleshooters within the government proposed two key measures to bring an end to the spiralling cycle of target killings in Karachi. First, there was the code of conduct initiated by the interior minister and brokered by the prime minister that the MQM and the ANP signed on August 7. The same night another proposal was aired by the interior minister, albeit in a backhanded manner. The minister announced that the Sindh cabinet had sought the deployment of Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel in Karachi to quell the unrest in the volatile regions. Surely, if that was the case the provincial cabinet should have the courage to make such an announcement itself.

Now while the code of conduct may have its merits, it does not carry enough iron-clad guarantees to stop the bloodshed that the city has witnessed for so many years. The code is limited to the actions of just two political entities. Aren’t there more political actors who could be made responsible for their actions?

After the unprecedented bloodletting during the 1990s one would have thought that both the federal and provincial authorities would be wiser now and look for more durable solutions. Even a decade later acts of deadly violence have continued to play out in the city, most notably on May 12, 2007. The problem with Karachi and indeed the rest of the country is that it is awash in weapons, most of them illicit. And no code of conduct is ever going to change that. Instead, there ought to be a charter of peace that all political outfits would be required to become signatories to.

One of the principal tasks expected of the charter’s signatories would be to disarm the militant wings of political groupings and surrender their stockpile of arms and ammunition. To give it an air of permanence, charter enforcement ought to be thorough and applied at different levels through the support of law enforcement personnel, the judiciary and civil society groups.

Non-compliance with the disarmament clause of the charter would carry hefty penalties, including cancellation of official registration and a fine. Just imagine even if one- third of the 58 political entities registered with the Election Commission, especially all the mainstream ones, were to agree to such a charter and abide by it, we would have a serious chance of turning the tables on lawlessness and crime by extension. For the peace charter to succeed, political groupings will have to summon up all the courage and resources they have at their disposal.

Of course, political groupings are not the only ones who could become part of the charter of peace and its implementation. Civil society groups need to participate wholeheartedly in this initiative by lobbying against the possession, use and display of weapons. They should also work to establish weapons-free zones in different parts of the city.

For starters, it should be members of the civil society who could campaign for a peace charter. Consider, for instance, a human rights group coordinating an anti-target killing rally led by, say, the mothers and daughters of all or at least some of the slain victims in Karachi, Quetta or elsewhere. This would be sending a powerful message to the perpetrators of these crimes, while stirring the conscience of a city and nation wracked by sniper deaths.

Be brave, fellow compatriots and take the first step.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2010.