President’s speech on Karachi

President Zardari and his team need to work out a strategy to achieve some modicum of peace in Karachi.

In the speech he delivered in Malikwal in Mandi Bahauddin district, President Asif Ali Zardari focused on issues in Karachi. He insisted that the state had not lost the ability to govern the city and that things were not falling apart, as seemed to be the case. Many, of course, would disagree. During the last week alone, 50 people have been killed in Karachi. For the year 2012, the figure already stands close to 2,000, according to human rights monitoring groups. These statistics do not exhibit any real evidence of an ability to control law and order in a city which has, once more, fallen into near complete chaos.

President Zardari blamed the happenings in Karachi on elements that wished to disrupt democracy and the democratic system in the country. No doubt, events in the capital of Sindh act to destabilise the nation. But whether we can blame everything that goes wrong in our state on conspiracy theories is questionable. Yes, now and in our past, we have faced many attempts to deliberately sabotage the working of the civilian government. While it cannot be denied that there may be an element of truth in the president’s words, the reality is also that Karachi is stricken by many ethnic, sectarian and political tensions and that violence in the city can erupt at any moment — sometimes, without any apparent reason at all. Somehow, authorities need to manage these matters and get things under control. They have so far failed in this completely.

President Zardari and his team need to work out a strategy to achieve some modicum of peace. While he has spoken of the development work achieved by his government in various areas and announced new schemes for Mandi Bahauddin, the fact is that many people live in fear everywhere in the country due to the breakdown of law and order. Karachi is a hotspot. It needs to be tamed if order is to be maintained in the country and stability restored so that democracy is not damaged.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2012.