The Sindh government extended police powers to the Rangers but curtailed special powers through a resolution passed in the Sindh Assembly. Now, Rangers would only have the powers to prevent targeted killings, extortion demanding, sect-based killings and kidnappings for ransom. And paramilitary force will have to seek government’s permission in advance to keep a suspect in preventive detention, and will not be allowed to raid any government office. The debate is raging in electronic and print media whether the PPP had malafide intentions by clipping Rangers powers of arresting a suspect for indirect role in terrorism or involved in terror financing. The PPP lawmakers said that all steps taken in this regard were strictly in accordance with the constitution and nothing unconstitutional was done. The question is whether the Sindh government had earlier given powers in accordance with the Constitution or in violation of the Constitution?
The Resolution stated: “That any person, who is not directly involved in terrorism and is only suspected of aiding and abetting terrorists or by way of terror financing or facilitating terrorists shall not be placed under preventive detention under any law without prior written approval of the Government of Sindh i.e. Chief Minister.” It was further clarified that “in case a person was suspected of the above, cogent reasons with complete evidence justifying such preventive detention shall be provided to Government of Sindh based on the available evidence, which could approve or reject such proposal of preventive detention.” It means that the Rangers will have to seek permission from the leader of the party to arrest his party men who are suspect in indirect involvement in terrorism or terror financing. But can anybody expect from the chief minister to allow arrest of his party men?
The PPP government was hesitant in extending the special powers on the perception that these powers were being misused to raid government offices and detain people on suspicion for extended periods of time without any evidence being produced following the end of the detention period. But there appear to be mala fide intentions behind the resolution, as the powers to the Rangers will not be applicable to anyone “who is not directly involved”. Does this mean a target killer can be detained by the Rangers, but those who ordered the killing cannot be detained? There is no justification for restricting cases of terrorism to sectarian motives only. There is a perception that by exercising its powers in this manner, the assembly is primarily interested in restricting the Rangers’ powers to ensure they cannot be used against the militant wings of political parties in the city.
This amounts to showing disregard to the Supreme Court verdict on Karachi in 2011 stating that MQM, PPP and ANP have their militant wings in Karachi, which must be disbanded and criminal elements brought to book. And by taking action, the government is implementing the apex court’s verdict. The court had said that “banned outfits including Sunni Tehreek were involved in extortion, while there are allegations of the same offence against parties such as Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Jamat-e-Islami (JI), Awami National Party (ANP) and MQM”. It has to be reminded that with the consensus of all the stake holders of Karachi the security forces are acting against criminals and terrorists to cleanse Karachi of arms. The efforts of security forces to disarm and disband militant wings of political parties have drawn considerable admiration from the local populace because of former’s result oriented actions.
After the operation by the Rangers, the security situation in Karachi has almost returned to normal, as there is steep decline in cases of extortion and target killings. With every passing day, the confidence of business community is gaining ground, which is obvious from the increase in economic activity and value of shares in Karachi Stock Exchange touching all time high. This is certainly reassuring as Karachi is the economic hub of the country. The public sentiments on the results of combined targeted operation against criminals, extortionists and arsonists in Karachi reflect the success of the official strategy to bring life in Karachi to normal. Yet, the ongoing operation in Karachi to improve law and order situation needs sustained support and cooperation of all political parties and civil society. However, large section of society and military believe that without special powers the operation would lose steam.
