Karachi violence

A week after the Supreme Court expressed some satisfaction with the ongoing targeted operation in Karachi, violence once again spiralled out of control on December 3. A total of 14 people lost their lives — a majority of them killed merely for belonging to one sect or the other.

The first killing of the day was of a Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) prayer leader and his guard. Soon after this, the leaders of the organisation issued condemnations and this was followed by a backlash. Most neighbourhoods in the vicinity shut down and by evening, the killings rose to include members of the Tableeghi Jamaat. Once again, the manner in which violence spiralled out of control sheds light on the incompetence of the law enforcement agencies in preventing more killings.

After the killing of an important member of a sectarian organisation, police officials should have increased deployment around major places of worship. Here the role of the leaders of such organisations also comes into play, as they should have exercised restraint in their comments and made sure their activists were not incensed into taking revenge.

Having said this, it is nearly impossible for the police force to provide security to each and every individual in the city. The problem must be tackled to achieve long-term solutions and the focus should be on resolving issues that have led to such growing intolerance in the country. The violence on December 3 highlighted the shortcomings of the ongoing targeted operation as well. It seems the police and Rangers have to shift their focus away from nabbing street criminals, who form a majority of the arrests being made since September, and target the bigger players involved in violence. It will be naive to give the authorities the benefit of the doubt in assuming that they are unaware of who these elements are. All we need is a sincere commitment to end violence in the city, once and for all.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2013.

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