Karachi chaos: An operation without goals?

Karachi burns. On Sunday, news came in that almost 50 people died in the metropolis during the first 10 days of November. With gang wars taking an ever more heinous turn and targeted killings increasing, the question on everyone’s lips is: can the Karachi operation succeed?

Launched as a major operation against criminals in the city, who we are repeatedly told, are a threat to life in the country’s financial hub, the Karachi operation has gained little visible traction because neither do the city’s inhabitants feel safer, nor do they repose their trust in law enforcement agencies. What the Karachi operation is doing, however, is that it is stirring up violent gang wars between criminal groups. Through, what many would argue, have been selected raids against one group or the other, the operation has only weakened some gangs. This has meant that opposing, often more powerful gangs, have greater space to operate within. The recent spike in violence is evidence of stronger gangs now flexing muscle to capture territory and foot soldiers of weakened gangs.

But more than changing the status quo within criminal elements in the city, the greater question mark on the Rangers-led operation is one of purpose. What are the declared objectives of the operation? And when can the inhabitants of the city safely expect the operation to end? These questions have so far been left unanswered. Similarly unanswered is the follow-up on those arrested during raids by law enforcement agencies. News suggest that almost 1,000 criminals have been rounded up by the Rangers, but news on their criminal prosecution and conviction is almost absent. Equally worrisome is the increasing prospect that elements leading the operation are either unwilling or unable to arrest the ring leaders of the largest gangs in Lyari.

No matter how many criminals are reportedly arrested, the only way the success of the Karachi operation will become evident to the city’s inhabitants is when law enforcement officials successfully arrest and prosecute the leaders of the Lyari gangs. The government must ensure that, in order to restore confidence among the people of the city, it outlines clear time-bound deliverables for the operation. An unending and undirected operation in Karachi will only lead to greater anarchy within the city. We, the inhabitants of the city, must know what the operation’s objectives are and when it is expected to be completed.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2013.