Bring Back The Peace You Ruined!

“The killers of policemen, lawyers, prosecution witnesses as well as their facilitators would be arrested in the next phase of operation”, the Sindh Rangers announced its new line of actions as a part of the on-going targeted operation in Karachi.

Question is, had the Rangers been giving immunity to the said criminals since the operation started in 2013? Furthermore, if all these killers are still roaming free in the city, then how the hell did the target killings go down considerably (as the Rangers statics indicate)?

It is an on record that the first and formal operation was launched in June 1992 by the army itself. Then during 1993-94, the army handed over the city`s control to its sub-force Rangers and went back. In 1994, the Rangers launched a fierce operation under then federal interior minister Rtd. General Naseerullah Baber which continued till the PPP`s government was sacked on the charges of (mainly) extra-judicial killings.

Then, in 1998, the law-enforcement agencies on the order of PM Nawaz Sharif launched another crackdown in Karachi after the murder of Hakeem Muhammad Saeed. That too went on till the military cope of October 12, 1999 took place. After the Nawaz Shrif`s government, the operation kept slow, but continued till the general elections of 2003 (after which MQM became a coalition partner in the PML-Q`s government and got the Sindh`s interior ministry 2001). Then in 2008 the PPP`s Sindh government, for the sake of dispelling the impression of poor law & order in the provincial capital, conducted several crack downs in the city until a full fledge targeted operation was launched in 2013.  

This is how Karachi has been the victim of formal and informal operations since 1992 continuously except a small duration of about four years (2003 to 2007). Though new operations were launched one after the other, but surprisingly, not a single time any official announcement was made regarding the completion of the previous one. During the periods of operations, all the people & authorities responsible (i.e., from the Chief Minister Sindh to the country`s Prime Ministry and from the IG Sindh police to the Army and ISI chiefs, kept on propagating that their operations had brought back the lights of the city. In 2015 too, some of them still seem to be proudly taking credit of the 90`s operations. However the Sindh Rangers, just a couple of months ago, proudly claimed that the Karachi-ies for the first time celebrated the Independence and Eid days with so much freedom & delightfulness which was never witnessed in the last forty years before. They gave credit of this to their on-going targeted operation. Temporarily, if it is assumed to be true, how can the period of 90`s (falling during the last forty years) be termed as peaceful when the common people were not able enough to celebrate the national and religious days freely and happily?? Is the Rangers` official stance not enough to nullify all the claims of having kept peace in the past? 

In fact, the 90`s has been the bloodiest era in the history of Karachi during which thousands of people lost their lives (both in the killings as well as fake encounters) and billions of rupees were robbed from them through different kinds of crimes. Practically, the peace of Karachi was ruined in the name of restoring it and the people were left at the mercy of militants and other criminals through the operations launched since the early 90`s. Robberies, extortions, kidnappings for ransom, target killings, and religious & sectarian extremism flourished in the biggest city of the country especially when it was under the complete control of law-enforcement agencies. 

The trend of having body guards, emergence of private security agencies, use of automatic lock system, fixing iron grills & gates, putting barriers (barricades) on the entry points of streets and installation of CC TV cameras for protection, all these began getting common in Karachi since June 1992. The people`s self-adopted extra-ordinary security measures for their protection are still prevailing in 2015 too, even after about 23 years of the start of series of operations which clearly show how insecure the Karachi-ites started feeling after the commencement of operations in early 90`s. Haqiqi, Sipahe Sahaba, Sunni Tehreek, Liyari gang war, Taliban, ISIS/Daesh etc, all penetrated in Karachi despite the presence of Rangers.  

At this point, when we compare the after-operation Karachi situation with the one existing  previously (i.e., before the army`s action in June 1992), it prominently appears that the law & order was much more better and the common people were not feeling so much insecure like the one after it. How strange it seems that a relatively peaceful period was declared a poor law & order state just to justify a maliciously planned military operation against MQM. And now, an eruptive-volcano like situation is being termed as peace.

Regarding the current law & order, the recent attacks and the resulted killings of traffic policemen, officially declaring certain areas as most dangerous, deployment of Rangers personnel on their protection, day light robbery at Denso hall, adopting the same old (after 1992`s) highly extra-ordinary security arrangements on 9 and 10<sup>th</sup> Muharram-ul-Haram, and, on top of all, the 18,000 complaints of snatching animals` hides on Eid day(s) (as per Rangers` own press release) are concrete and undeniable evidences which prove that the 2013`s targeted operation too has failed completely. Not speaking of making Karachi a city of lights regarding better law & order, the political and military establishments have completely failed to restore the peace that they themselves ruined in 1992.

It is also worth noticing that the law-enforcement agencies have made it a customary to take into custody the concerned guards, watchmen or the personnel of security agency deployed at the place where the crime (robber, theft or murder) took place in order to probe if they were involved with the culprits or they did not perform their duty as required. Frankly, it is quite logical as the security persons are responsible for the protection of life and valuables of owners even at the cost of their own lives.

But, the question is, who would ask the law-enforcement agencies (including the personnel and heads of army & Rangers) about the thousands of people killed and billions of rupees robbed since 1992 when they militarily took over Karachi in the name of protection of lives and properties of people? Should they not be interrogated if it was their incompetence or they were themselves involved with the criminals and killers targeting a particular political party and a community?

No matter if there is no one in Pakistan showing moral courage to raise over this, God is aware of all. He knows very well who are involved in the planned victimization of MQM and Urdu speaking under the disguise of keeping peace in the city. Insha Allah, very soon He would bring all the real culprits and their facilitators to justice publicly.