Growing unrest: ANP calls for army deployment in Karachi
Senator Haji Adeel says indiscriminate operation against criminal elements is an urgent need.
Senator Haji Adeel says indiscriminate operation against criminal elements is an urgent need. PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD:
The Awami National Party (ANP) on Friday said that deploying the army was the only solution to improve the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi, following the latest spate of violence across the metropolis.
Speaking to the media outside Parliament House, ANP’s Senator Haji Adeel, who was flanked by Senators Afrasiab Khattak and Zahid Khan, said that the rule of law could not be established in the commercial hub of Pakistan without a military deployment, adding that an indiscriminate operation against criminal elements in Karachi was an urgent need to eliminate all elements of terrorism. Adeel added that the city also needed to be cleared of all illegal weapons.
ANP, which is itself on the hit list of various terrorist outfits, particularly in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, made the demand following the death of Mufti Abdul Majeed Deenpuri, a top cleric of the Jamia Binoria Uloom Islamia, who became yet another victim in the wave of target killings in Karachi on Thursday.
The senators also lambasted the recent statement of Interior Minister Rehman Malik that the interior ministry had credible intelligence of a fresh wave of terrorist attacks in Karachi. They condemned his statement and subsequent departure to London. “If the situation is so bad in the country, then what is the justification for an interior minister to sit in London,” Khan said.
They questioned that if the army could be sent to Swat to eliminate militants and regain control of the valley, then why it was not being deployed in Karachi where the citizens were being terrorised on a daily basis. “The situation of Karachi is worse than it was ever [before] and the deployment of the army is the need of the hour,” Adeel said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2013.
The Awami National Party (ANP) on Friday said that deploying the army was the only solution to improve the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi, following the latest spate of violence across the metropolis.
Speaking to the media outside Parliament House, ANP’s Senator Haji Adeel, who was flanked by Senators Afrasiab Khattak and Zahid Khan, said that the rule of law could not be established in the commercial hub of Pakistan without a military deployment, adding that an indiscriminate operation against criminal elements in Karachi was an urgent need to eliminate all elements of terrorism. Adeel added that the city also needed to be cleared of all illegal weapons.
ANP, which is itself on the hit list of various terrorist outfits, particularly in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, made the demand following the death of Mufti Abdul Majeed Deenpuri, a top cleric of the Jamia Binoria Uloom Islamia, who became yet another victim in the wave of target killings in Karachi on Thursday.
The senators also lambasted the recent statement of Interior Minister Rehman Malik that the interior ministry had credible intelligence of a fresh wave of terrorist attacks in Karachi. They condemned his statement and subsequent departure to London. “If the situation is so bad in the country, then what is the justification for an interior minister to sit in London,” Khan said.
They questioned that if the army could be sent to Swat to eliminate militants and regain control of the valley, then why it was not being deployed in Karachi where the citizens were being terrorised on a daily basis. “The situation of Karachi is worse than it was ever [before] and the deployment of the army is the need of the hour,” Adeel said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2013.