Streets of Fire
Where there is smoke there is bound to be a fire and since Third World-ers are great conspiracy theorists, they tend to believe that smoke is meant only as a camouflage for the perpetrators of the fire. In Karachi this fire is burning fiercely in the streets. For those who have lived in hope that somehow they will be passed by there is bad news, the spreading conflagration is cutting a wide swath across class and creed, sect and ethnicity, etc. There is no convenient fire-escape from this developing inferno, by their benign inaction the Federal Government is seen to be a part of the problem rather than a “fire brigade” dedicated to the rescue of the city’s hapless inhabitants.
Instead of addressing the core issues that have brought Karachi to the verge of absolute anarchy, Ms Benazir seems to skirt the major problems. The general public perception is that there are no solutions on offer because the logical ones tend to threaten PPP’s electoral power base in Sindh. When faced with such Hobson’s choice, Government of Pakistan (GoP) invariably tends to take the easy route of rhetoric, contributing to the PM’s rapidly declining credibility. Hard to believe that this is the same South-Asian vintage Joan of Arc of the 80s decade, holding forth the torch of democracy for the people of Pakistan. Regretfully, the PM is giving the word “obfuscation” due legitimacy much beyond what is generally attributed to bureaucracy.
Karachi (and Sindh) needs strong decisions in the immediate future by the elected leader of Pakistan, some of which may not be palatable to her. Karachi’s problems will not go conveniently away every time the PM goes on a foreign tour, albeit for purposes for encouragement of investment and not purely as an accidental tourist. One of those decisions must be to immediately impose Governor’s rule in the Province and put a Lieutenant Governor’s or Chief Commissioner or whatever you may like to call him (or her), as a “SUPREMO” in charge of all the various administrative agencies in Karachi. This should include Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC), Karachi Development Authority (KDA), Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), Karachi Police, Sindh Rangers, Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Port Qasim Authority (PQA) and any Federal, Provincial, intelligence, administrative or other entity working within Karachi city’s parameters and meant for Karachi e.g. Income tax, Customs and Excise, etc, i.e. everybody except those directly working for Federal and Provincial Governments where their work does not pertain to Karachi.
We must hold Local Bodies elections immediately in Karachi, followed by National and Provincial Assembly elections in Sindh. This will fill the leadership vacuum at the grassroots level. Unless leaders elected by the people are made responsible and accountable for their welfare and contentment, there will continue to be a void which will be increasingly filled by the drug Mafia, mobsters, terrorists, etc. While the city’s people must have a voice in Islamabad and the Provincial Assembly must function, we should keep Karachi’s special status in limbo till peace is fully restored, the appointed Administrator gradually handing over power to a directly elected Mayor.
Declare a general amnesty for all politically motivated crimes provided the perpetrators own upto the crime within a specified period of time. If any such crime remains unsolved after the period for availing general amnesty is over and evidence points to elements that have not owned up, they should be duly prosecuted. The amnesty may give relief to the accused but the price they must pay is that exposure would make the public aware of the criminals in our society, it is a gamble we must force on them.
Make Karachi a weapons-free city. Only uniformed police on very limited VIP duties or vital installations or Rangers/Police joint patrols should carry arms. VIPs and vital installations must be specially gazetted as such. No one in civilian clothes is to carry arms on pain of being shot on sight. Private security company guards or private chowkidars must only carry arms within the premises (not even outside the gates and doors) of offices, banks, residences, etc, exception being specified Cash-Transit-vehicles with uniformed guards. Even foot police patrols must not carry arms unless accompanied by Rangers.
All illegal immigration must come to a stop. Identification must be at the borders, airports and ports. The government is dreaming (which may turn into a nightmare if implemented) if it thinks it can send 1.2 million illegal Bangladeshis, 150,000 Iranians, 150,000 Afghans, 50,000 immigrants of Burmese Muslim origin, etc (including a continuous stream from India of about 30-40,000 annually), to their respective homes without further complicating socio-economic issues in the city besides irretrievably damaging relations with Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, Burma, etc. A scheme should be initiated for insisting that illegal aliens should be registered by a cut-off date with the proviso that those found unregistered would be heavily fined and deported. For registered aliens, employees should pay taxes to the city government (not less than Rs 300 per person per month) while those self-employed must pay their own due share. The idea is to discourage immigration to Karachi by levying tax disincentives, not to open another front in violence as the immigrants fight deportation while opening a new avenue for corruption to the law enforcement agencies.
The Citizen-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) has functioned quite effectively in bringing large number of kidnappers to book. In particular, its present Chief Nazim Haji as well as former Chief Jameel Yousuf have repeatedly risked their lives (and in some instances their families) in this voluntary work, an outstanding example of citizen participation in the solving of urban crime. CPLC could become a Citizen Liaison Committee (CLC) and enlarged to increase its crime-combating effectiveness, at least in investigative work if not in actual operations. People like Nazim Haji or Jameel Yousuf should be considered for the post of City Administrator as in contrast to others they have voluntarily put their lives at stake for the well-being of this city while our drawing room stalwarts have shown no such commitment.
The use of loudspeakers in mosques for purposes other than Azaan must be stopped forthwith. Mosques, which should be havens of peace, are being increasingly used to disseminate vicious sectarian propaganda. Religious moderation must be enforced by the toughest means at our disposal as it erodes Muslim unity and is increasingly being exploited by third parties by their attacks on mosques to try and ignite sectarian tensions. This evil has to be confronted not by rhetoric but by positive action.
Something has to be done about MQM (Haqeeqis). This Quisling group was formed around a breakaway faction of the MQM. No doubt they may have had genuine grievances against their former compatriots and were thus used by the ISI as a Trojan Horse ploy in the early stages of Operation Clean Up, they are now part of the problem that bedevils this city. Without any support among the masses and bereft of ISI backing since Gen Waheed’s takeover as COAS, they now seem to enjoy a love-hate relationship with some government agencies, part probably a carryover from ISI connections but mostly the Intelligence Bureau (IB) which seems to be using them to counter MQM (Altaf). There is an increasing suspicion that the powers-that-be may be trying to break-up the MQM by focussing on the Shia-Sunni divide. In effect, the Haqeeqis have become mercenaries for hire in a desperate bid for survival. The Haqeeqis must be taken carte blanche from Karachi and settled elsewhere as they (and their families) may face retribution post an MQM revival in this city. While one would hope that the MQM would rise above vengeance for the sake of this city, too much blood has flowed through the streets of fire for this platonic possibility.
Most important of all, GoP should restrict various intelligence agencies in Karachi from becoming a State within a State by being answerable to the city’s SUPREMO. However, the criticism must not be one-sided because within the limitations and parameters assigned to them they have given valuable information and analysis while working under adverse conditions. It is only when they have been misused for personal vendetta or career aspirations that they have gone wrong, on the other hand they must be feeling frustrated at seeing those persons walk about scot-free against whom they have incontrovertible evidence. Responsible leaders must always remember that intelligence operatives have no loyalties except to their own organisation or themselves. Those who profess deep devotion at the cost of their conscience are quite capable of cheerfully becoming hangmen for those whom they serve so loyally today. We need the agencies to tell the PM bluntly what she would not like to hear e.g. the involvement of former Al-Zulfiqar terrorists along with Jeay-Sindh activists devoted to the secession of Sindh acting as willing tools of Indian RAW.
Perhaps it is also time to take heed of the masses at the grassroots level. The last week or so has witnessed hectic activity in Karachi as neighbourhood committees have been formed to discuss ways and means to counter the spreading anarchy, in this women have been in the vocal forefront. Even dedicated political and social workers of known integrity and honesty like Mairaj Mohammad Khan, Akhtar Hameed Khan etc have come out of their self-imposed silence to project one-action non-political agenda, “Amn” (or Peace), for which there is grassroot and undisputed support. It is no use singling out any one political party for recriminations, everyone has contributed in varying degree to Karachi’s rapid slide to apocalypse.
The road to peace and tranquillity is blocked by the massive obstacle called the quota system. This is the major reason for frustration among the youth of Karachi as they feel that their merit is negated by partiality because of the accident of birth. While there may be good reason to protect the rights of the people of some backward areas, enough years have been given for their due adjustment. We must now do away with the quota system, if not completely, at most not more than 10% or less of the whole, whether in education slots or job opportunities, etc. There are many other initiatives to take, particularly in the socio-economic sector to kick-start the economy but nothing can move while the streets are on fire and the environment is not conducive for commercial and/or industrial activity. While the present elected government retains the initiative they must carry out the basic reforms aforementioned as immediate fire-break measures. What one fears is that, given bad advice from unelected officials, GoP might try a reverse fire. That would be a gamble which would endanger the whole population to a larger conflagration in the nation than what we are witness to in the streets of fire in this city.
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