Spring cleaning Karachi

We await an operation targeting any of the other political parties, without which MQM might have cause for complaint

Cleaning up the political cesspool in Karachi was never going to be easy or universally popular, but a start has been made based on an intelligence report that most major political parties have ‘militant’ wings. This should come as no surprise to anybody, the only surprise being that it has taken so long to both recognise the fact that political parties effectively run militant wings within themselves, and that these wings must be dismantled if peace is ever to come to the city. All clean-ups have to start somewhere, and the cries that a single political party is being targeted to the exclusion of other political parties are being trenchantly denied. The intelligence agencies have recommended an across-the-board operation in an effort to finally shut down the turf war that has been going on for many years between the political parties all vying for control of different parts of the city — with the ordinary Karachiite being the frequent victim of their feuding.

According to security officials, it has been decided that the militant wings of all parties will be disarmed without discrimination, and if this is truly the case then we welcome this development. Significantly, it appears that the police have little part to play in such an operation, probably because the police force is corrupt and highly politicised anyway and is also long overdue for a clean-up. If, as is promised under the National Action Plan, all non-state groups are to be disarmed then this will represent a sea change in both attitude and response to political violence. Faced with some awkward questions, the politicians have been defensive, with Farhatullah Babar of the PPP refusing to confirm or deny when asked whether his party had a militant wing in Karachi. No such equivocation from the military, which is saying that there has been a strategic shift in the thinking of its leadership, leaving little doubt as to who and what is in charge of the operation. We await with interest an operation targeting any of the other political parties, without which the MQM might have cause for complaint. Also welcome are reports that sectarian organisations in Punjab will soon be targeted as well. This is much needed and something that should have happened a long time ago.

Published in The Express Tribune, March  18^th,  2015.

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