Governor Rule Should Be Proclaimed in Sindh Province
16 July 2015By Saeed Qureshi
It appears that now the big fish both erstwhile and in power have started
feeling the pinch of the anti-corruption drive pedaled by the Rangers in
Karachi. It is a known fact that the MQM and PPP alternately ruling in
Karachi have been milking the national exchequer and encouraging the
unrelenting spate of lawlessness and crimes for years now.
With the backing and support of the power wielders like ministers and senior
government officials, the crimes gangs have a free hand to rob and kill the
businessmen, the traders and industrialists without any let or hindrance.
From unlawful sale of water to extortion of money from the shopkeepers and
robbing the banks had the tacit support and patronage of the stalwarts of PPP
and MQM.
Additionally the stray gangs of the religious lot, professional hardened
criminals, the bounty hunters of all hues and shades also joined this mayhem
to blackmail and harass the common people as well as the business classes for
payments of extortion money and forcible seizure of the properties. Those who
dithered or resisted were put to death, maimed or brutalized in other
manners.
The police and normal law enforcement agencies like police failed to curb or
bridle the escalating crime. Rather many members of the police and
intelligence agencies had to lose their lives in combating the outlaws that
are having a state within a state and have the tacit cover from the power
wielders. One can imagine further loss of life and disruption of business in
Karachi if the Rangers had not stepped in and rein in the serial killers and
tiger happy murderers.
While the successive incumbent provincial governments in Sindh have utterly
failed because of their connivance in proliferation of lawlessness and
exhibiting scant concern of the deteriorating law and order and public peace,
it was an overdue decision to hand over Karachi to well trained Rangers to
combat and eliminate the perpetrators of crime, sabotage, lawlessness and
killing sprees. The Rangers have been doing a highly commendable and historic
job restoring peace and order in a city that had turned into a haven for the
enemies of the country and that had sinister motives to inflict harm to the
economic and industrial activities at the behest of the internal traitors or
the external enemies.
While crime incidence has drastically come down in Karachi it is imperative
that this purge of the crime mongers is continued till Karachi is cleansed of
the crime. Now the Rangers have started apprehending the crooks and thieves
of those who massed money through misuse of power in allotting property, real
estate and also in doling out ghost jobs. The massive funds for development
projects for health and education and development have been diverted and
grossly misused by the officialdom and bureaucracy. The corruption and lack
of accountability and the misuse of powers have been rampant not only in
Karachi but elsewhere in the country.
The sources of the inflow of unhindered money from pilferage and sale of
water, from robberies and looting banks and the common people and the
business classes are now drying up. And that is why the leaders of the PPP
and the MQM are questioning the role of the Rangers.
The statement of Asif Zardari that he has a long list of the corrupt army
generals and that the army should stop teasing them is as surprising as it is
foolish in the prevailing circumstances. This would rather impel the army to
move with greater speed and tempo to unearth the sleazy characters within the
government and the politics who encouraged and benefited from the years of
lawlessness and break down of the law and order making Karachi and the rest
of country a kind of hell and the most unsafe.
It is good that Mian Nawaz Sharif has put off his scheduled meeting with
belligerent Asif Zardari which was aimed at winning the support of the
incumbent federal government for putting up a combined confrontational
posture against the armed forces. Had the meeting taken place the army would
have gotten a wrong message. This could have also undermined the sincerity of
the government towards the army action in Karachi and in northern areas
against the militants?
The other dimension could be that by seeing the party in power and PPP in
league, the army could have thought of martial law which would have been the
worst scenario for Pakistan and continuation of democracy. It can be the most
desirable development for India and internal enemies. In that situation
Pakistan would have gone back to square one with a throwback to Zia and
Musharraf's military eras scuttling democracy and people empowerment.
As such the Rangers and the armed force should keep on performing their
monumental and historic role in clearing Pakistan both from the hardened
criminal gangs and corrupt elements as well the religious militants waging
their bloody war against the people and state of Pakistan.
The Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah is a weak and dysfunctional person and
his letter to the DG Rangers not to exceed the mandate is a resonance of the
Zardari statement about the corrupt army generals. Since the Sindh provincial
government of PPP would be reluctant to support Rangers for known reasons,
the only viable way-out for the Rangers is to continue its operations is to
declare governor rule with a limited mandate in that troubled province. That
change would give a free hand to the Rangers to continue its operations that
are aimed at saving Pakistan and Karachi from outlaws.
In the meantime two former prime minister of Pakistan Raja Pervez Ashraf and
Yousuf Raza Gilani have voluntarily resigned from their positions in the
Pakistan People's Party that demonstrates the internal rift within the party
on ill-timed, imprudent and provocative statement of Mr. Zardari.
The writer is a senior journalist, former editor of Diplomatic Times and a
former diplomat. This and other articles by the writer can also be read at
his blog www.uprightopinion.com
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