Of crime and commitment

MQM should have realised by now that they cannot mould Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan into another Rehman Malik.

Dr Farooq Sattar and the rowdy group of youthful legislators sitting on the MQM benches in the National Assembly should have realised by now that they cannot mould Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan into another Rehman Malik, though of PML-N origin. Both these persons represent two extremes of human behavior. Nisar acts elusive and looks a bit arrogant but he means what he says. Rehman Malik, on the contrary, is a humble-playing guy of the friends-to-all-but-sincere- to-none kind. Besides, political bosses of the two have different priorities altogether when it comes to dealing with the MQM.

Asif Ali Zardari is a shrewd player of power politics. During his jail years, he played games which subverted possibility of Benazir Bhutto completing her two prime ministerial terms in the ninetees. Ultimately, he realised that the invisible forces would invariably push MQM to stage their typical do-or-die confrontations with the PPP governments before staging strikes. No wonder, he kept on going an extra mile to keep MQM appeased throughout the five years of their political alliance. Rehman Malik was the slimy deliverer for Asif Zardari.

For Nawaz Sharif, it is too hard to forgive and forget. He has gathered a stockpile of unsavoury memories about MQM. He would not let his government look like it is dancing to the dictates of MQM; and his interior minister, Nisar Ali Khan, is to act as his devoted messenger.

I simply wish that Dr Farooq Sattar, and those who pulled his strings from abroad, had discovered that Nawaz Sharif belonged to an altogether different breed as he planned to restore law and order in Karachi. Unlike Asif Zardari, he wants to give its control to Army.

Dr Farooq Sattar has laid a trap for his own party by hijacking the National Assembly proceedings since Tuesday in order to drum up demand for a military takeover of Karachi. His demand allowed Prime Minister Sharif to invite his cabinet to come up with their suggestions over the Karachi situation. On coming Tuesday, he and his cabinet will travel to Karachi to ponder over the situation.

If you go by the appearances, Nawaz Sharif does want to develop a strategy for restoring law and order in Karachi after giving a sympathetic ear to the governor and the chief minister of Sindh. Heads of the various intelligence agencies and law-enforcing outfits will also furnish their respective inputs before the Tuesday meeting where Dr Sattar is invited as a special guest.

However, after listening to many people who should know what’s up, I can tell you that Nawaz Sharif will go to Karachi with a well-thought-out and fine-tuned work plan. Thanks to intelligence input and its vetting, a long list of ‘known criminals’, along with statements of their vile deeds, has already reached the Prime Minister Office.

During the Tuesday meeting, Nawaz Sharif might as well persuade Chief Minister of Sindh to ‘own’ that list and formally empower the Rangers to hold sweep operations and arrest listed culprits

Extensive investigation of the persons arrested by Rangers will be carried out not only by the police but also by joint teams of law-enforcing agencies. As the interior minister has hinted in his National Assembly speech on Thursday, the attorney general is about to hold informal meetings with judicial officers. The idea is to make it extremely difficult for persons arrested to slip out of the dragnet with sly manipulation of the judicial process.

Altaf Hussain did not surprise me with his statement late Wednesday evening. Through it, he sent out a warning about consequences of injudicious operations conducted twice in the 1990s to clean up Karachi. In this context, Dr Farooq Sattar looked miserable while bemoaning that the police in Karachi were raiding the houses of MQM activists. He virtually begged of the interior minister to ensure that none of the arrested workers “would be tortured to extract confession for crimes not committed, or killed in fake encounters.”

He looked doubly miserable, when Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan took the floor to tell him pointblank that being the federal minister of interior, he had no constitutional power to order a provincial government over maintaining law and order.

He said Syed Qaim Ali Shah was an elected chief minister and he would stay in command and control even when the federal government “provided him with resources and additional force to tackle the rampant crime in Karachi.”

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