There is hope

Hearing the clarity with which PM spoke about Karachi, how govt wants to bring it under control, I am optimistic.

Hearing the clarity with which the prime minister spoke about the Karachi situation and how the government wants to go about trying to bring it under control, I am optimistic about the future. Far more so because he has wisely opted to take along the elected government of Sindh and the other elected political forces of Karachi/Sindh. Even more so because the chief minister will lead the effort, helped by the federally-administered Rangers who will, if it is legally possible, be given powers of investigation and prosecution too.

For, most stories suggest that arrests by Rangers and handing over of the accused to the police to prosecute them complicates matters, particularly when the arresting authority detains the alleged criminals in their own custody for long periods of time for the purposes of extracting more information about their criminal enterprises, thereby compromising the legal cases before the courts.

Indeed, there were stories being told at the time about the February 2008 suicide attack on the good Lt Gen Mushtaq Ahmad Baig, the army’s surgeon general, a highly considered ophthalmologist, and from all reports a kind and caring soul, in which he and nine other people died, including his driver and guard. Whilst the terrorists who planned the attack were arrested very quickly, the case did not stand in court because they were ‘disappeared’ for months before they were produced before the judge. They were acquitted a year and half later.

The decision to give the Rangers more of a hand in controlling Karachi’s atrocious law and order is because, quite obviously, the Sindh police have failed in their duties. But one must look at some of the reasons because of which the police don’t acquit themselves well. While it is agreed that most Pakistani (not only Sindhi) policemen are ill-trained, they are also ill-equipped and most ill-supervised. The rank and file are also nowhere as well looked after as other armed services of the country.

Consider: let alone the fact that there is not one dedicated police hospital anywhere in the country meant only for policemen and their families like the other services, I wonder if officers of the rank of SP and above ever even visit the langars (kitchens where food is prepared in the lines and mess halls where the jawans eat) to see the quality of the fare being served, as happens in the army and Rangers. Look at the condition of their vehicles: old rattle-traps belching smoke when their engines do start. Indeed, look at the turnout of the police, constables and ASIs and SIs and Inspectors!

It is also pertinent to note that the constable to population ratio in this country is skewed. Example: the Police Act of 1935 stipulates 1:400, which can be increased in times of need, and what greater need is there than Karachi in its present woes. According to my information, the ratio of police to population in Karachi today is 1:500 (London Metropolitan Police’s ratio is 1:250 and London has no terrorism and bhatta problem). I must also point out that the police should be equipped with more effective weapons than they have at present.

As an aside about the Rangers, 35 years ago when I was pining to be posted to the Frontier Corps and then to the Tochi or Chitral Scouts but instead got sent to the Infantry School as an instructor, a posting to the Rangers was considered a great comedown. This force was then considered ill-disciplined and full of smugglers who, with their counterparts across the border, the Indian BSF, carried on an illicit nocturnal ‘border trade’.

The Rangers really came into their own under the Commando’s rule when the Punjab Rangers supervised a most rigged election in 2002. I think that was when their uniform changed too, making them more ‘operational’ and ‘army like’.

But I digress. None of the above is to say the situation should not be controlled by/through the Rangers; I am only urging caution. There are deliberations going on in Karachi as I write this, between the provincial and federal government’s legal experts, to give this whole scheme legal cover. Which brings me to the point that whilst anti-terror courts convict the criminals expeditiously, the appeals take years in the higher courts, thus giving their cohorts time and space to influence/terrorise/target the judges hearing the appeals. The recent brazen attack on Justice Maqbool Baqar, senior puisne judge and future chief justice of Sindh, in which nine people, including the judge’s driver was killed is a case in point.

Let me here make another point about the police and accountability for their acts of omission and commission. Suspending an SHO or inspector; transferring an SP or DIG never helps. Accountability must start at the very top: suspend/sack the supervising officers of higher rank (why not DIGs and IGs) and see a change magically appear.

There is another piece of great news: the government has acted with great and appropriate swiftness in response to the dangerous news of a few days ago that the US had started closer monitoring of our nuclear assets by calling an immediate meeting of the National Command Authority. The PM will preside with the adviser on national security; the ministers of interior and finance, the three services chiefs, and the chief of the Strategic Plans Division attending.

I can only hope that this is the first step towards the command of our national assets being transferred to civilian hands whilst they are, of course, protected physically by our security agencies as in every civilised country.

In the end, two matters: first, a tribute to those young men who died fighting for Pakistan in the war that started today, 48 years ago, some relatives and friends losing their precious lives too. And the fervent hope that the subcontinent becomes an example of peace and amity between two dangerously armed neighbours. May the poor of both countries prosper and may their children’s children live fulfilled lives.

And second, respect to Mr Nawaz Sharif for letting democracy grow and for so graciously, and without rancour, honouring the President of Pakistan, who in his own right deserves great praise for helping the project of democracy along in this country. God bless you both.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2013.

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