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The Karachi Situation Playing Blind Man’s (?) Bluff

Even for those who have admired the many qualities of Ms Benazir Bhutto over the years and have been taken in by her charm and charisma, her recent speech in Kasur was shocking. It brought our Princess down to a particular low water mark unbecoming of her, both as a human being and as a popularly elected leader. The dignity of the Office of the PM requires avoiding the use of intemperate language or saying anything carrying racial inferences, Ms Bhutto crossed that fail-safe line that separates politically acceptable campaign rabble-rousing from the more colourful characteristics of the parade ground. The only excuse one can justifiably give is that the PM believes she should campaign endlessly irrespective of the audience and the occasion, the studied demeanour of sophistication she displays on her frequent State visits being the exception. Well, the last election campaign has been over for nearly 20 months and the next one is yet to commence, or does she know more than she is letting on? Instead of stooping low to conquer, she is succeeding in losing a considerable amount of goodwill among the intelligentsia and the masses who have tended to always give her the benefit of the doubt in the many controversies she manages to get herself mired in from time to time. Maybe she used an exorcist to chase away the demons that seemed to possess her in Kasur, or perhaps she was inspired by self-preservation in the face of noises emanating from quarters that matter, to the profound relief of her damage-control specialists, the PM appeared at a Press Conference flanked on one side by Hamid Nasir Chattha, and “regretted” the remarks “if they have hurt anyone’s feelings.” In true Bhutto tradition of defiance unto death, there was nothing contrite or apologetic in her tone or demeanour, in fact she relished launching into another diatribe of sorts against “terrorists” (by inference the MQM(A)). Regretfully, she may have irretrievably lost the battle for the hearts and minds of Karachi’s populace, only a miracle can salvage any remaining goodwill.

For whatever it is worth, the PM is right in one respect. There is militancy that can clearly be classified as urban terrorism within the ranks of MQM(A). One cannot objectively view the situation and give them a clean bill of health just because the PM chose to go off on a tangent. However there are extenuating circumstances. Given the way the MQM have been hounded over the past three years since the start of Operation Clean-Up, this is hardly surprising or unexpected. Even if you would corner an animal in this manner you would expect a reaction, case in point PPP-in-exile during the Zia years and the terrorist Al-Zulfiqar Organisation. Also the MQM(A) is not the only one playing the urban guerrilla game, what about MQM(H), Al-Zulfiqar and Jeay Sindh? To compound all this, Indian RAW has been actively fomenting violence in Karachi to take the pressure off Kashmir. In all fairness, the PM must acknowledge that it was the State (in the form of ISI) that created a parallel “terrorist” organisation, the MQM(H), and it is the State (in the form of IB) that still sustains it. Anytime the organs of the State acquire such powers which allow them to break the laws of the land they are pledged to uphold, the reaction is bound to be commensurate, as an act of self-defence if nothing else. When criminals function in the name of justice, justice becomes a crime. Two wrongs do not make a right, or for that matter, three, four or even ten. Every political party in Karachi including the JI, PPP, JUI, PPI, ANP, etc has militant wings whose high-handedness often borders upon terrorism. MQM(A) is simply the best organised, having the maximum sympathy of Karachi’s masses, followed by MQM(H) having the support of the Establishment. PML(N) is probably the only one without a coherent militant faction and certainly that is not for want of trying. Even the President mentioned MQM(H) and Al-Zulfiqar as having terrorist factions in a recent Press Briefing for foreign journalists. MQM(A) can be held partly responsible for the bad law and order situation in those areas of Karachi which are said to be in its control, who are the “terrorists” in the Landhi, Korangi and Lines Area? Even PSF got into the act with rocket launchers near NIPA Chowrangi the other day. Given the type of provocation that the MQM is subjected to every time that calm returns to Karachi, violent reaction by their cohorts in the streets is not surprising. In countless incidents Police and Rangers have been quite high-handed, thereby alienating the populace. The immediate cause of the current unrest is the LEAs raid at Nine-Zero (the home/office of Altaf Hussain). Since this was done at the advent of Muharram, it was certainly avoidable, i.e. unless the objective was to provoke confrontation.

On the political front while the PM seemed to accept Mian Nawaz Sharif’s offer of help and dialogue in Karachi, the leader of PML(J) Hamid Nasir Chattha (with 3.91% of the popular vote in the last elections), who was sitting next to her at a recent Press Briefing said he did not recognize Mian Nawaz Sharif as a Muslim Leaguer notwithstanding the fact that PML faction led by Mian Sahib got 39.86% of the popular vote, about 10 times more than Chattha’s faction (and a percentage part or so more from the PPP). This is symbolic of all that is wrong with Pakistani politics, viz. (1) a recurring failure of supposedly mature leaders to accept reality with good grace, (2) the utter lack of credibility in their political utterances and (3) the bankruptcy of a political system that forces a popular leader like Ms Benazir to use the crutch of the likes of Chattha for support (who incidentally would be up the creek without Wattoo).

The reality is that Karachi is faced with apocalypse now. Further warnings are futile when the storm is already upon us. The Army symbolically buried its head in the sand by opting out of Karachi on Nov 30, 1994. The public perception maintains that the Army is still in Karachi, acting through their surrogates, the Army-officered Rangers. If they thought that by this side-shuffle they could encourage the PM into a political dialogue with the MQM(A), they were sadly mistaken as Ms Bhutto and party (which includes the supposedly non-partisan (??) President) had (and seem to have) no intention of negotiating with “terrorists” as long as these “terrorists” have the potential of winning any election in the urban areas of Sindh, in particular Karachi, by a landslide. In Pakistan’s democratic philosophy, in order to be democratic you must either lose or play second fiddle to the ruling regime. However, one must also appeal to Altaf Hussain to rein in his militants, having the majority mandate of this city, why bring it to ruin? He needs only look at how “Hamas” became estranged from PLO to realize that militants have a recurring habit of spinning out of control. Similarly GoP should note that Israel used to call PLO a terrorist organization but was forced to the negotiating table because the extremist “Hamas” represented a greater threat. Unfortunately some major players of late Asif Nawaz’s hawkish era remain, among them Lt Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi, who was DGMI from late 1990 till his promotion to the present rank (and appointment as MGO) in GHQ in June 1992. As Asif Nawaz’s trusted aide, he was rumoured to coordinate GHQ’s intelligence activities for the late COAS, according to Mushahid Hussain, even bugging his own boss, the then COAS Gen Aslam Beg. With such a track record who knows who is bugging nowadays? On Lt Gen Javed Nasir’s removal from the post of DG ISI on premature compulsory retirement in May 1993, Qazi became DG ISI and thus part of a powerful troika within the Army (sans the COAS) which were the late COAS inner circle and which oversaw the demise of Mian Nawaz Sharif’s government, a gameplan that had been put off course by the untimely death of the late COAS, Gen Asif Nawaz. Similarly Maj Gen Mushtaq, DG Rangers Sindh, the present pointman for the Government’s anti-MQM campaign had functioned previously as COS to late Lt Gen Asif Nawaz’s 5 Corps and then later as his DGMI, taking over from Qazi. While Mushtaq’s professionalism cannot be questioned, lack of objectivity based on a particular mindset that converted Operation Clean Up as directed against criminals to targeted only on one political party in the urban areas should have been enough to keep him (and others with the same single-track thought process) away from Karachi in a military appointment more suitable to his genius. The dissident MQM(H) factions have been controlled (at various times) by Qazi and Mushtaq. With IB now having adopted MQM(H) after the present COAS forced the ISI to let go and the same team players on board, the situation was tailor-made for confrontation.

From May 27 to June 5, 1995 (in a ten-day period) there have been 119 deaths, 199 wounded, 143 vehicles burnt, 465 arrests, 27 kidnappings and 133 vehicle snatchings in the city of Karachi. As we go into print, there is no let-up in the death and destruction. In a dangerous escalation, rocket launchers are being frequently used, one dreads to think of further deadly additions of light arms to the city’s unofficial armoury. The people in the rest of the country have no idea of the fear and apprehension that has become ingrained in the psyche of the city’s populace. Regretfully, GoP does not show any intention of solving the problems but seems hell-bent in complicating it by escalating the confrontation.

Unfortunately we have very few choices left as to what is to be done, viz. (1) The Federal Government should put the Province of Sindh under Governor’s rule for at least 2 years (2) The cities of Karachi and Hyderabad should be said to be in a state of emergency and Administrators for both cities should be appointed from the Army with all civic agencies and LEAs under their control (3) Karachi should be declared a gun-free city with no one allowed to carry arms except in uniform and that also specified locations (4) In order to fill the leadership vacuum at the grassroots level, Local Bodies Elections should be held within a period of 6 months after further sub-division of Karachi into at least 9 districts (one million population each approximately) and Hyderabad into 3 districts (in consultation with the major political parties as to delimitation of constituencies (5) Mayors for each district and Lieut Governors for each of the two cities should be elected on the basis of adult franchise one year after Local Bodies election (6) Six months after the elected representatives take office and all the civic agencies are running under one authority, the appointed Administrators will cease to hold office and hand over power to the elected representatives in toto. If the populace elects MQM nominees as their representatives, then it is their democratic right to rule. Within this framework, many socio-economic tasks can be initiated to ease the populace’s civic needs.

Too many dire warnings have been given about the impending demise of Karachi and its effects on the rest of Pakistan, one need not repeat them. The best would be for the Bhutto regime to do its democratic duty, if they fail then we must look at alternatives, within and outside the House. One can only appeal to those who matter to fulfill their constitutional obligations to protect the integrity of this country “even at the peril of their lives.” Plots and promotions and other pre-retirement and post-retirement perks will not matter if this city dies. If this city should go down the drain, will Pakistan be far behind?

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