Karachi violence: New outfit Muhajir Republican Army blamed for unrest

“Over time, criminal gangs have matured into formidable syndicates, developed alliances with terrorist cells.”

KARACHI:

Attorney-General Munir A Malik on Thursday uncovered the existence of yet another shadowy group that is believed to be sowing trouble and is responsible for the shock-and-awe situation in the city.

In a report submitted at a hearing of the Karachi suo motu case, the attorney general laid bare the role of the so-called ‘Muhajir Republican Army’.

Malik filed the report in response to the Supreme Court notice to the federal government to present its stance on assisting the Sindh government in curbing unabated violence and crime in the metropolis.

The report suggested legal action against the group if and when its members are identified. “All-out efforts are required to identify the members of the Muhajir Republican Army and action taken against them under the law,” it said.



The larger Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising justices Jawwad S Khawaja, Gulzar Ahmed, Muhammad Athar Saeed and Sheikh Azmat Saeed, was hearing the suo motu case that was initiated in August 2011 after Karachi went through one of its bloodiest summers.

In October 2011, the bench had ordered implementation of its verdict to curb targeted killings and calling political parties to stop supporting crime groups. Due to the recent spate of targeted killings and other violence, the Supreme Court bench resumed the hearing.

The interior ministry wrote in the report that Karachi is confronted with multi-dimensional threats. Besides other forms of organised crime, major threats are terrorism, targeted murders, sectarian and ethnic killings.

“Over time, criminal gangs have matured into formidable syndicates which have developed alliances with terrorist cells,” the ministry claimed, adding, “Unfortunately, they have also developed political patronage.”

Helping Sindh

The attorney-general submitted a report in which the interior ministry assures that the federal government would fulfil its responsibilities under Article 148(3), extending all-out assistance to the Sindh government. At first, he said the report was confidential but later said it may be made public. In the report, the interior ministry submitted that when the incumbent government took over in June, the law-and-order situation in Karachi was in a shambles. The interior ministry would resolve the situation by helping the provincial government and utilising the strength of its federal institutions, including the paramilitary Rangers, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and National Alien Registration Authority (NARA).

The report advised that NADRA’s fingerprint-matching capability may be used to identify criminals and wanted foreigners.

The federal government has increased operational coordination between the police and Rangers and provided Sindh police officers with anti-terrorism training abroad, it said. The interior ministry’s aerial wing was also available for surveillance when required, the report informed.

To put an end to the use of illegal mobile SIMs possibly by criminals and terrorists, it has been decided that if those SIMs numbering 4.47 million cannot be verified by September 15, they will be permanently blocked.

In addition to coordination with the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the interior ministry asked the agencies to identify the first and second line of leadership in the criminally involved communities in the no-go areas.

The interior ministry has urged Rangers and the police to muster up more force urgently to increase patrolling in all areas but it said an outright major operation should be avoided “at all cost” since it could an open “a new front”.

More security forces need to be placed in Katchhi-dominated areas, in coordination with the local communities, it stated.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2013.