Editorial

Ill-advised words

Karachi has a low flashpoint & it takes only the tiniest spark to start a fire, with destruction the inevitable result

Editorial May 01, 2015 1 min read

SSP Malir, Rao Anwar, held a press conference on April 30 wherein he overstepped every line in the book, and caused a considerable disturbance by so doing. PHOTO: MUNAWAR A KHAN/EXPRESS

Public servants have different lines of responsibility to that of politicians. Politicians can and do say whatever they please or think they can get away with; public servants by contrast need to be careful about what they say in public and err on the side of circumspection when in a sensitive area. The SSP Malir, Rao Anwar, held a press conference on April 30 wherein he overstepped every line in the book, and caused a considerable disturbance by so doing. He made a number of allegations to the effect that members of the MQM had received training at the hands of the Indian intelligence agency RAW, and then went on to offer the opinion that the party should be banned. There can be little more calculated to stir trouble in Karachi than that. Trouble duly arrived in the form of a press conference by the MQM that refuted the allegations. This was followed by an emotional address to his supporters by the leader of the party who delivered remarks that swiftly brought the ire of the Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) down on his head, saying they were uncalled for and irresponsible.

At the time of writing, the IG Sindh has suspended SSP Rao Anwar, and the DSP Port Qasim who was present at the press conference that sparked trouble was shot and killed in Gulshan-e-Hadeed, along with two other policemen. This unhappy chain of events should never have happened, and would not have happened had SSP Rao Anwar been more prudent.

The city of Karachi always has a low flashpoint, and it takes only the tiniest spark to start a fire, with death and destruction the inevitable result. Statements from political leaders need to be more circumspect, too, with the ISPR distinctly irritated to say the very least. We hope that steady hands are called to the tiller. A report earlier in the week said that violence had been reduced by 50 per cent in the city since the start of an operation to clean it up began in late 2013. Actions such as this take the city backwards, not forwards.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2015.

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