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De-Beirutizing Karachi

An irate business community recently threatened Syed Ali Nawaz Shah, Federal Minister for Industries, that they would close down their commercial and industrial ventures in Karachi if there was no security of life and property, tongue-in-cheek they said they would be obliged to refuse payment of taxes, whether of the official or unofficial kind was left unsaid.

A tax of sorts is being levied as a protection racket by unscrupulous elements newly armed with toys that go bang. The exchange of prisoners (of war?) between PPP and MQM was a horrifying exercise, besides being demeaning to the concept of democracy, two major political groups of Karachi (one the ruling Party of the country) have publicly acknowledged that they have armed elements that resort to kidnapping and torture, mayhem and murder was left unsaid. Significant was the supervision, mode and place of exchange, if the Pakistan Army has had to become the referee for deadly political games of the ultimate kind, can Martial Law be far behind?

While the flight of capital may be a bad thing in itself, flight of entrepreneurial skills will severely affect Karachi economically, being Pakistan’s only port city the economic pressures on the whole nation is a natural corollary. The root causes of Karachi’s ethnic strife is economic, job starvation in an ever increasing expectant masses, one with heightened aspirations, continually fed by emigrant population. The resultant civil strife has reduced major parts of Karachi to a state of utter anarchy, taking a steady toll on human life and property.

Replacing the gentlemanly Qaim Ali Shah with the even more urbane Aftab Shahban Merani seems to be a disappointing cosmetic change in the face of taking radical political and economic changes. Dishing out Aspirin in lieu of major surgery may relieve the pain temporarily, in the long-term the situation will become more complicated. The recent history of Sri Lanka has shown how the Tamils were turned into militants by insensitive political handling. Through a carrot and stick policy laced with meaningful political dialogue President R. Premadasa has succeeded in bringing the one-time paradise from anarchy to a semblance of normalcy but the militant Tamils, the LTTE, have taken over as the law of the land in the North and parts of the East, using the gun as the ultimate arbiter. Why allow the situation to reach apocalypse before being forced to taking necessary extreme action? PPP stalwarts like Jam Sadiq Ali, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, etc should be inducted into a comprehensive political and economic solution. With all due respects, Aftab Shahban Merani should avoid giving an impression of being a mere puppet on a shoestring in a stop-gap measure, one wishes him well, one hardly expects a miracle but more power to him if he can bring it off.

The overlapping functions of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) tend to work at cross-purposes to the severe detriment of the population. Political moves must precede administrative restructuring, the principle of democratic rule by devolution of powers must be established, consolidating the city’s administration under a Metropolitan Government, all political (and administrative) control must be in the hands of the elected representatives at different city tiers. Ruling the people by decree through public servants at the local level is just another variation of dictatorship, hypocritical in a democracy. The essence of democratic rule must not be diluted at each stage from the top downwards till the poor Mayor can only kiss babies and cut ribbons. For every 10,000 population there must be a Council headed by an elected Councillor, for every 5 Councils a PRECINCT of 50,000 population. By a direct vote of the population, one of the five Councillors can be chosen as PRECINCT Chairman/Chairperson. Each PRECINCT must have its own mini-government with responsibility for administering socio-economic function. Five Precincts should make a TOWN (or a Sub-Division), a Town Chairman/Chairperson chosen from the Precinct leaders. Four Town Municipalities make a District governed by an elected MAYOR, the district having a population of maximum ONE million. The Mayoralty should have the Police Battalion HQ, the District units for garbage collection and disposal, water and sewerage, housing and education, etc. As Karachi has more than three districts, we must have a Lieutenant Governor. The Chief of Police in Karachi should be the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, a qualified person whose appointment must be confirmed by a vote of the Town Chairman/Chairperson. In fact all the major appointees of the Lieutenant Governor or the District Mayors, Town Chairman, etc for administrative posts (Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, etc) must be confirmed within 7 days of appointment by a vote of the Precinct and Town Chairman/Chairpersons, Councillors, etc as the case may be. We must have Commissioners in Karachi for Education, Transportation, Water, Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Health Services, Sewerage, Garbage Collection and Disposal, Environment and Parks, Housing, Roads, Registrations, etc. While all civic amenities may be planned and organised at the City level, devolution of powers down to the District, Town and Council level must be done as much as possible.

Major administrative restructuring/reorganisation must be done of the Police. The Sindh Police is in shambles, it is not their fault. No serious effort was ever made to do proper recruitment and training, specialised training is almost unheard of, they are woefully undermanned, improperly organised and incorrectly employed. For a Metropolitan city like Karachi there are no Anti-Riot Battalions, no Special Protection units for VIPs, etc. The Sindh Police in Karachi must be divided into the Metropolitan Police under the direct control of the Lieutenant Governor while the Provincial Urban Police should be under the control of the Chief Minister. Other than the 180 Police Stations of the Metropolitan Police, one in each Precinct, each Town must have a Company of the Sindh Urban Police, with a Police Battalion HQ assigned to each District. The Provincial Police must have one Special Task Regiment at the City level with Anti-Terrorist, Anti-Riot, VIP Protection, Drugs Control units, etc. The police force should have more than adequate transportation and communications. To back up the police with swift justice, there should be Provincial Municipal Courts at the Town level to ensure that the constitutional right of every citizen is not violated. Similarly at each District level there should be Federal District Courts taking up cases pertaining to violation of the Federal Constitution. Discrimination of any kind should be considered a Federal offence.

Karachi must be made a Weapons and Drugs FREE ZONE. Given the neutral stance of the Sindh Force presently headed by a serving Major General, this is achievable. To start with, Law Enforcement Agencies backed by Army units must fan out throughout Karachi holding all nodal points so positioned to isolate any community at short notice. Once this is done, 24 hours curfew must be imposed on the whole of Karachi (and later on Hyderabad) during this period, by the use of radio and television, air-dropping of leaflets and repeated messages over loudspeakers, ALL licenced/unlicenced arms and drugs must be surrendered, no questions asked about the unlicenced arms or drugs. Thereafter Block raids must be conducted by Army Units after imposing curfew again in selected areas. All residents of the Block must move out carrying their cash and valuables while specially trained Ferret teams with dogs and detectors must move in for a thorough search. If any guns and/or drugs are found, that house should be blown up without any further inquiry (the likely punitive measures must be made clear during the publicity leading upto the raids). These Block raids must be conducted in all the districts of Karachi simultaneously and repeated in the first few days so that the whole population is aware of an even-handed policy. The video-recorded results of the Block raids must be televised, radio and media publicity must be given. The Provincial Highway Patrol must interdict vehicles carrying drugs and weapons. Drastic situations require drastic measures, each of the shells slamming into the residential neighbourhoods of Beirut is a living and dying testimony of the lawless running amok when treated by kid gloves. While such measures may be possible in a dictatorship, it can never be acceptable to the masses, in a democracy such actions can be made acceptable. Needless to say, any law enforcers found conniving with lawless elements must be treated as a severe Federal offence and given force-multiplied punishment.

Whatever else one does, the option of last resort should be to impose Martial Law on Karachi, better to have a serving Lieutenant General, with a subordinate staff drawn from the Army, to help the IG Police through the transition period of imposing law and order and bifurcation/reorganisation of police, not more the 6-9 months. All democratic means must be exhausted, the worst type of democratic rule being always acceptable to the most benign form of martial law. One cannot completely preclude Martial Law, when greedy elements use the bogey of democracy to strip the country’s assets, when politically backed criminals run berserk as if there are no tomorrows, the time comes that the only disciplined force remains the Armed Forces. A question then arises should they patiently sit on their hands and Nero-like see the country being systematically looted? When democratic principles are violated in the name of democracy to perpetuate hidden rule and criminals function in the name of justice, justice becomes a crime. While the perception of economic rape of the nation may be there, in reality things are still very much in control but if the rule of the country were to end up in the hands of smugglers and rapists, these controls may disappear. Should not the Army then exercise its moral responsibility towards the system, defending the constitution from statutory rape by predators lacking moral turpitude?

The de-Beirutization of Karachi can only be done if strong action is taken by applying fair standards all around. These actions must be democratic, a mixture of political and economic initiatives. Frances Hutcheson, a Scottish Philosopher said “That action is best which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers”. Any sleight of hand meant to favour any faction would be extremely counter-productive.

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