It was a mesmerizing event for most of the nation, which is saying a great deal with all the political drama in Pakistan. It will become one of those moments in our young history that could change the direction of a nation. Many of us will remember the feelings that we had as the barricades were crossed and the Sindh Rangers entered the fabled Nine Zero, the headquarters of the Muttahida Quami Movement in Karachi. We will remember the pictures that flooded our television and computer screens of the weapons being retrieved. We will remember the statements of various members of the MQM that these weapons were planted by the Rangers, until Faisal Sabzwari changed the narrative with one statement – “Yes, they are our weapons, but they are all licensed.”
This event will be the one most recalled because this is where the public believes the operation in Karachi started. What the public doesn’t know is that for almost a month prior, intelligence-based operations (IBOs) were carried out in the city against terrorists, financiers, and supporters. These IBOs swept up the most hardened fighters and operatives bringing a relative peace to the city’s residents, but it’s that morning that people will remember more than any other. The raid had begun and hope sprung that Karachi may finally return to an existence without terrorists, extortionists, kidnappers and target killers. The simple dreams of any citizen of any city in any country – peace.
Many analysts without our borders, and even more outside, postulated on the potential repercussions of the raid, intermixing phrases like Governor Rule and mini-martial law, trying to add controversy to a national security issue, all fearful of the reaction that would come from the MQM. While the conversations happened on television, both the provincial and federal capital were buzzing with claims of political victimization, however, the Centre wasn’t interested anymore. Since the brazen attack on Army Public School in Peshawar, the Centre was listening more, talking less and acting via the direction of the armed forces and intelligence agencies of the country.
The Background
Karachi is a battered and beaten city from decades of violence and political point scoring, a city held hostage by those who have nothing invested in the citizens themselves. For decades, Karachi has been locked in a power struggle between multiple forces pulling it apart. The Sindh Police had become a silent observer, and often a willing participant, due to the number of political appointees to middle and senior positions. The political establishment of the province has long been involved in the disarray in the city at different levels, from support of the gangs and the underworld to extortion, kidnappings and massive corruption. The city itself had become a ticking time bomb waiting to detonate and the detonator was with someone else.
There were few days for Karachites that didn’t start with a body count and end with an on-air argument of responsibility for the carnage and inaction of the State, filled with prayers that they would get home safely. No one wanted to put forward solutions because they knew they could be swept up, as former President Asif Ali Zardari suggested to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif before the in-camera session on the National Action Plan. Fortunately for the Prime Minister, Karachi’s long-term problems became part of the National Action Plan and would be handled within the mandate given through the Pakistan Protection Ordinance and the 21st Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan.
The Karachi Operation
Let’s be clear, no citizen of any city wants an armed force, para-military or otherwise, patrolling and policing their streets. The armed forces are a broadsword; they are not the delicate scalpel that makes up the political machinery of a nation. The armed forces move swiftly and resolutely, there is no hesitation in their actions. The same isn’t true of the political machinery. The political machinery works to protect their interests and vote bank, before considering what might be best for the city.
To be fair, we could say that the Centre listened to the politically motivated statements of one political leader when he said that Karachi was being Talibanized – problem solved with the operation. We could also say that the Centre listened when the same political leader called for the de-weaponization of the city – problem solved with the operation. We could also say that the Centre, and General Headquarters for that matter, listened when the same political leader was calling for a mini-martial law in Karachi to save it – problem solved with the operation.
Interesting that same political leader is calling foul today when his political party, workers and supporters that are being caught for past crimes committed, not to mention the new ones they are involved in.
The only way to solve Karachi’s problems was with a broadsword, cut away the disease and let the city re-build and heal itself, with some help from the federation. While many believe that the provincial government should have been involved in the initial decision-making process, their own complicity in many of the illegal activities, evidenced by the arrests, within the province made that impossible. Let’s be honest, the Pakistan People’s Party has held the provincial government for the past 7 years, arguably the bloodiest time in the city’s history, without being able to take any action to bring peace to the city.
The Karachi Operation is a multi-agency operation involving intelligence, law enforcement and military. Initially, the operation did not include law enforcement, but due to political pressures and threats to cancel the mandate of the Rangers in Sindh, investigations of corruption cases were passed to the Sindh Police and National Accountability Bureau. This is a point of contention for most analysts.
The National Accountability Bureau and Sindh Police both report to the same civilian courts that have not been able to secure a single corruption-related or terrorism-related conviction, which was the entire reason for the implementation of military courts. Additionally, with the final decision making power wrested with the Centre on which cases enter the military courts, political parties could safely assure they will be able to escape any real attempts to prosecute and punish them.
The New Dynamic
Karachi today is a significantly different city. Street crime is non-existent. Target killings are just as rare. Karachites are able to breathe again without fear and concern about those they love. Karachi is a city at peace again.
The political parties have huddled as their attempts to halt the operation failed repeatedly. Their attempts to paint the Rangers as a brutal and biased organization with faked videos and photoshoped pictures pale in comparison with the stories and wounds of the torture rooms and gang controlled areas. The political parties failed to remember that their politics isn’t for the people, but for themselves. The political parties failed to position themselves as victims because the citizens of the city, and the country, consider themselves victims of failed policies, poor policing and ineffective justice. They were unable to resonate a narrative with the people they claimed to represent, rather those people were celebrating the successes of the Rangers and encouraging them to go further to cleanse the city of the malcontents and miscreants, whether in terrorist, criminal, police or political clothing.
The question now becomes the operation’s logical end and the planned political response to meet the new opportunities and challenges?
The Next Steps
A logical end to such an operation is something than many are unable to foresee currently, because of the sheer problems that exist within the city. From China cutting to the water tanker mafia, every problem in Karachi finds its roots somewhere in the political or bureaucratic structure. Yet, if we are to discuss next steps and requirements for a peaceful city, these items are must haves.
First, all terror, sectarian and extremist groups must be eliminated, while measures must be taken to secure all entry and exit points to the city. This can only happen if the civilian courts put aside their fears of reprisals and dispense justice fairly. The law enforcement agencies can make all the required arrests, but if the courts are unable to dispense justice swiftly and effectively, the entire exercise value is lost.
Simultaneously, the law enforcement agencies, Sindh Rangers and the provincial home ministry must work together to identify and close down all extremist leaning madrassahs and masjids, while forcing all others to register themselves with the government. The registration of the masjid and madrassahs with the government will allow for more financial and religious monitoring, decreasing the potential for new extremist groups to rise in place of the dismantled ones.
If one thing has become evidently and blatantly clear, it’s that the Sindh Police need to be de-politicized and re-trained as a police force that can protect the citizens of Karachi. For this to happen, the police need to be cleansed of all political appointees, poor fitness and those involved with criminal activities, without regard for the position that the person currently holds. While many will argue that the Sindh Police is already ill-staffed, it is ill-staffed because of those who are ill-equipped to hold a position within the police force. When you send a mechanic to do a heart surgeon’s job, you can’t be surprised when the patient dies on the operating table.
Once the police are cleansed of the dead weight, the police force must be re-trained, re-armed and re-deployed as a police force, rather than a protocol force. The problem with the Sindh Police is simple. With 11,000 police officers, close to half are deployed to protect politicians, bureaucrats and civil servants, leaving roughly 5,500 poorly equipped police officers to protect a city of 2 million people. This must change so that Karachi can stay safe permanently.
With the success of the Apex Committee, which oversees the Karachi Operation, the provincial government and law enforcement agencies must continue this model to assure that the information sharing between departments continues at the level that has been attained. This information sharing has made policing significantly easier, while allowing the Rangers to do what needs to be done to eliminate the hardest criminals from the city’s landscape. This multi-organization task force can become the driving force post-operation to maintaining the peace that has been achieved.
While few would like to publicly admit it, Karachi needs a political cleanse. Much like the Sindh Police have been rotted from inside by unfair appointments and promotions without merit, the political parties of the nation are also rotten inside. With the news stories coming out of Karachi regarding the level of involvement in various corruption schemes by high ranked political officials, the people of Karachi need a better leadership model post-operation. This cleanse can be achieved in multiple ways and honestly depends greatly on the willingness of the respective political parties to cooperate by surrendering any political worker that is charged with a crime. If we don’t see this level of cooperation from the political parties, they must be suspended by the Election Commission from contesting any elections.
As we have all seen, there are certain sections of the media that have made it their personal agenda to target and abuse the armed forces. Many will say that this is what freedom of speech represents, but that same freedom of speech doesn’t exist for the terrorists, gangs, extremists and mullahs that incite the violence. Instead, they are given a priority position to put forward their ideology and their vision for Pakistan. The support of terror organizations and their leadership must be stopped completely and any channel or publication that publishes against the operation must be made an example. For those saying this is governmental high-handedness, please understand that after 9/11 and 7/7, the respective national media organizations didn’t take to beating up on the intelligence services or the military like Pakistan’s media has done to our armed forces.
While the National Action Plan does contain some guidelines for media organizations, it doesn’t go far enough in defining the act of anti-state activity and the punishments that will be dispensed if proven. In spite of this, there must be a war-time media code of conduct and the “media elitists” must be brought to book for anti-state activities.
Lastly, and most importantly, economic and development opportunities must be capitalized. With Karachi returning to peace, the city will see an influx of business and investment over the next 6 months, but if the political leadership hasn’t prepared or identified the sectors that can be invested into, Karachi will stumble and lose. Again, when we have a Pakistan focused leadership in Sindh, we will be able to capitalize and deliver for the city, as well as the nation itself.
Conclusion
Over the past few months, many people have screamed and cried about the Karachi Operation and its effectiveness. This is simply propaganda without fact. There have been significantly more arrests of terrorists and extremists than political workers. There has been a massive drop in criminal activities within the city. Business and commercial activities have boomed in Karachi again, with this past Eid shopping netting the highest sales revenues in decades. The city is peaceful and the people stand with the Rangers and the armed forces, the nightmare that every political government shares in Pakistan.
Karachi is at a crossroads. One route will take the city and its residents to independence from the political gerrymandering and give them a city they can be proud of again, while the other is a U-turn that returns the city to the same problems, significantly worse than previously, with the same political leadership that the province and the city suffers from today.
For a logical person, the decision of which route to take is easy, the problem is there are very few logical people left in the decision making tree of the country.
This article originally appeared in Hilal Magazine.
