Police fear history is repeating itself

“Are we heading towards success or has this four-month operation taken us 20 years back?” asked SSP Rao Anwar.

KARACHI: The recent orders given to the police department to restrict their movement were also issued to the force during the 1990s operation in Karachi by the then Sindh IGP Afzal Shigri.

“After the tall claims of success by apprehending over 13,000 suspects in two phases of the Karachi operation, the law enforcers themselves can’t even move freely. What kind of success is this?” questioned a senior police officer, SSP Rao Anwar, who also played a vital role in the 1990s operation. “Are we heading towards success or has this four-month operation taken us 20 years back?”

The targets of this operation are, however, different from the last one, leaving the lower-rank officers to fear that the fallout would be more massive. “We are still losing our men in reaction to the operation which took place decades back,” said an ASI. “But this operation isn’t one group - it’s against militants of banned and sectarian outfits, political and religious parties, extortionists, drug and land grabbing mafias and other elements of organised crime. Has anyone considered what could happen if all of them unite against us?”

Former IGP Shigri said that the main difference between the two operations was that in the 1990s, it was being led by the police whereas the one going on right now is being spear headed by the Rangers. “The police force, unfortunately, is limited as the authorities have not recruited more personnel or paid attention to the lack of resources at hand,” he said. The police officials leading the operation are, however, still hopeful that their efforts will pay off. “The criminals are attacking us because we are taking action against them,” said DIG East Munir Shaikh. “This is expected in such operations but it does not mean that we will be defeated - no, we will finally eliminate all crime.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2014.