Fearing backlash: MQM sets up committees to guard its areas

Police officials demand they should be included in these panels as well.

KARACHI:

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has decided to set up its own neighbourhood watch committees as it fears a backlash from the militants.

As talks between the government and the Taliban negotiators dwindle, the party has ordered its leaders, parliamentarians, units and sectors representatives to help form neighbourhood committees in the city and to report any suspicious activity or person.

While ‘appeals’ to residents had been made earlier to form vigilant teams, MQM leaders said that the current situation made them take up this call once again. The party believes that their strongholds are vulnerable targets as they are on the hit list for being secular and vocal against militants. “Around one-third of the city is under the presence of militants,” said one MQM leader. “But we will defend and save Karachi in case they do any damage.”

Meanwhile, the party’s deputy convener, Nasir Jamal said that an awareness campaign has been started where residents have been asked to form committees and take up the responsibility of their own protection. They will keep an eye on who is living in their areas and what activities they are involved in.



The party’s parliamentarians are also pushing people in their constituencies to do the same. In MNA Ali Raza Abidi’s constituency of NA- 251, a 20-person committee has been formed to oversee 600 houses in Mehmoodabad No. 5. The area’s unit office is helping out as well.

Resident committees, which might not necessarily comprise MQM supporters or workers, are hiring unemployed youngsters of the area as watch guards. Residents are pooling in money to give financial support as well. “They have been told strictly to keep records of house owners in the locality, the houses being rented out and information on tenants,” explained Abidi. “This is a self-initiative and those people in the committee will not be armed.”

Abidi added that the committee will not bother the law enforcement agencies but will keep them in the loop if they come across any suspicious activity. Smaller committees are also being formed on street level. “We are preparing people to be mentally ready, so that they have immediate numbers and information of who to get in touch when the need arises.”

Korangi’s parliamentarian Ali Rashid told The Express Tribune that a door-to-door awareness campaign is also taking place in his locality to mobilise people in case of a backlash. “These committees will facilitate the law enforcement agencies in providing information and intelligence,” he said. “This does not mean that we will take the law in our own hands,” he clarified. Rashid said that the committee set-up will be difference in every locality since every place has its own dynamics.

On the other hand, police officers have called for inclusion in the committee. A police officer, who is part of a police station where a committee has been formed, said that the police should be made a member of the committee so that they can immediately tackle terrorists. There should be strong coordination between the two, he urged.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2014.