Under the rule of death

One thousand Frontier Constabulary troops are being deployed, the police and Rangers have been given shoot-on-sight orders and modern technology will be used as part of the targeted actions the government has planned to restore peace in Karachi, where terror has been reigning since Tuesday when violence broke out in some of the city’s most sensitive ethnic fault-lines. But these seemingly serious steps, announced by Interior Minister Rehman Malik after he flew into the city late on Thursday night and by the chief minister, came a bit too late for the families of 67 people whose lives had been cut short by then or for the millions held hostage in their own homes by bands of murderers. Nor did they help prevent further bloodshed on Friday – as these lines are written – at least 29 more people have lost their lives as the MQM observed a mourning day and transporters observed a strike, bringing life to a complete halt across the city. A ban on pillion riding only piled more misery on the hapless people. Most victims were innocent citizens with no political affiliations. No less shocking was the role of the state that watched as a silent spectator as people were mercilessly butchered in Qasba Colony, Banaras, Baldia, Orangi, Nazimbabad, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Gulistan-e-Jauhar. The police and Rangers took no action as buses were fired at, homes and shops burnt, and families ran out of food and other essential supplies in the western neighbourhoods. In the most gruesome incidents on Thursday, attacks on two buses near Banaras Chowk and in the SITE area left 11 people dead and several wounded, while a six-year-old girl died after she was caught in the crossfire. A day earlier, armed men on motorcycles had shot dead the driver and four passengers on a mini-bus in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. The slaughter of such a large number of innocent people in a few days has instilled fear into the hearts of citizens, who see no hope for justice.
Who is to blame for this madness? The interior minister says he knows the masterminds and the place where the butchery was planned. If indeed that is the case, why on earth has he failed to rein in the culprits, especially when he claims to be in possession of satellite imagery of the places the terrorists are operating from? More forthcoming are the city police chief, who thinks the violence is “political and definitely ethnic”, and the Sindh police chief, who is reported to have informed the chief minister of arrests of several suspects, including workers of political parties. Without naming the ANP, an ally, and the MQM, which has parted ways with the PPP-led coalition government, the chief minister has asked the two political parties to restrain their workers from indulging in further violence. The fact that most of the victims are Pakhtuns and Mohajirs lends credence to suspicions that criminal gangs belonging to the two parties have been causing all this mayhem. All this while, the country’s major political players have contented themselves with measures aimed more at public consumption than at public good. The PML-N has sought a parliamentary debate on the lawlessness in Karachi, the ANP has called an army operation to deweaponise the city, the MQM has observed a mourning day and threatened a strike, and the ruling PPP has taken steps which are reactive and surgical, rather than remedial. At best, the deployment of law enforcers can prevent further bloodshed for the time being, but it cannot resolve the problem that is essentially political in nature. The failure of the stakeholders to agree on a formula to share the bounties that Karachi offers as commercial hub of the country lies at the heart of this problem. Demographic changes have altered the political landscape of the city over the past three decades or so. Any party unwilling to adapt itself to new realities and insisting on a share bigger than its size would be at fault. And use of violence to claim such a share must be an unforgivable act if peace is to prevail in the city.