The Rangers have an answer for how much they have pitched in to reduce Karachi’s crime rate, except that it has perhaps amounted to little in the end.
They have arrested 1,600 men since last October but all of them have been released, submitted DG Maj. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar on Wednesday in the Supreme Court’s Karachi registry during day two of the Karachi violence suo motu hearing.
The suspects are released as the Rangers have the power to arrest, but it cannot draw up a list of charges (charge sheets) when it hands them over to the police. Similarly the Rangers cannot prepare memos of weapons seized either. Thus they go scot-free because of a lack of evidence.
Justice Amir Hani Muslim observed that the entire exercise goes to waste then, as matters stand at zero legally.
The Rangers are mandated to ensure security to businessmen and assist the police in operations. Two hundred personnel are deployed in the industrial areas where they have set up seven crime-control reporting centres that have taken action on more than 200 complaints.
Maj. Gen. Akhtar also submitted that there were less strikes by traders and businessmen. Indeed, since March 2012, they had not received any complaints of extortion, he said. The bench responded by saying that the number of strikes had gone up contrary to his claims, as extortionists were daily killing those who refused to pay up. “There is hardly any big builder, investor or businessman, who does not pay extortion,” remarked one judge. “Earlier on a chit was sent, now they themselves go to collect extortion.” The DG responded to another query from the bench to say that they faced no interference from politicians, the police or government. The paramilitary force acts independently or on directions of the home department. A Rangers police station is in the works but the DG said he was against this idea as personnel dealing with those cases would have to be removed from the roads. The bench said it didn’t feel there was a need for a Rangers police station unless it was to deal with high-profile cases. Justice Khilji Arif Hussain remarked that the Rangers could be delegated the same powers as they had in Balochistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 25th, 2012.
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