Mansoor Jafar Al Arabiya Pakistan's new government is planning another military operation in Karachi, the country's largest city and commercial hub. It is planning to eliminate a myriad of militant and criminal gangs involved in crimes of a serious nature in the city, such as assassinations, extortion, kidnapping for ransom, land grabbing, drug pushing and gun running. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told parliament last week that a targeted operation will be launched in Karachi to bring back peace and tranquility to the country's biggest industrial center and major port. This has been an elusive dream of every government for the last 25 years. Karachi has been suffering from lawlessness and street crimes for over two decades, resulting in a colossal flight of capital and manpower to other parts of the world. Despite this, it is still the hub of industrial and commercial activities in the country, generating the bulk of the country's revenue. The criminal groups operating in Karachi have literally taken the city hostage as mafia gangs fight an unending war against one another to gain control of profitable areas where they can extort money from shopkeepers and businessmen. Shootouts among gangsters result in the death of common people and passers-by. Although the usual hustle and bustle in the city appears to be like any other megacity in the world, people from all walks of life in Karachi dread going out in the street alone at night for fear of being mugged or killed. Most of Karachi's businessmen and industrialists, whether common traders or wealthy entrepreneurs, regularly and silently pay money to gangsters, yet they live under constant fear of receiving the demand-chit from some other powerful gang trying to take control of their area. Militancy among political parties has been the biggest factor behind the breakdown of law and order in Karachi. According to the findings of the country's Supreme Court, most of the militant groups are funded by political parties, ethnic groups or sectarian outfits. The court initiated the investigation on its own, taking note of deteriorating lawlessness and target killings in Karachi in 2011. The Supreme Court found that all political parties, ethnic or sectarian groups, barring one or two, either had their own militant groups or funded them for political survival or to make “secret” money. The court ordered the then government of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to eliminate the militant groups among political parties and other organizations in order to purge the city of killings, muggings and kidnappings. But the court's orders fell on deaf ears as the government preferred the political interests of its allied and opponent parties over those of the 20 million people of Karachi. No concrete measures have been taken to curb the patrons of the gangs of criminals and militants. Over the past 25 years, Karachi has witnessed several military and police operations, but criminal elements were never uprooted because of the political funding of groups. Rangers and paramilitary forces were stationed in Karachi during those years to aid the police, but crime rates actually went up instead of coming down. The troubling situation in Karachi has not only badly affected the country's economic growth but has been a serious headache for successive governments. However, no government has ever been able to control the criminal groups because of political patronage to criminal elements and militancy among the political parties and sectarian groups. The involvement of foreign agencies has been another major factor. Foreign money and arms have always been pumped in through secret or official channels to gangs. Last week, the Director General of Rangers in Karachi, while making a statement before the Supreme Court, accused the leading political party in Karachi of involvement over the last decade in the smuggling of huge caches of arms into the city which were meant to be sent to Afghanistan. But strangely, he took back his words the next day when questioned by the media. In the past, top government officials have claimed to have solid evidence of secret agencies guilty of subversion and target killings in neighboring countries. As of now, they also have proof of a big Western power working in Pakistan through its secret agency and private armies working on contract. With yet another military operation on the cards, it was unclear as to what strategy would be adopted to make a difference this time. Critics have always held the weak judicial system and absence of political will to eliminate terrorists as the reason for the proliferation of crimes and terrorism. So far none of the terrorists and gangsters has been executed despite the fact that courts have awarded the death penalty. This is due to the moratorium on death sentences ordered by outgoing president Asif Zardari. This was done to comply with the demands of the European Union. Zardari has been quoted time and again as saying that as long as he was in office nobody would face the gallows in the country. Interestingly, Pakistan's Muslim League led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has also maintained the moratorium on carrying out the death penalty. It is yet to be seen if Nawaz Sharif will be able to take Karachi back to the glorious age of the 1980s when it was ranked as one of the top ten industrial cities of the world and was ahead of many megacities of the Middle East and Far East. – Mansoor Jafar is editor of Al Arabiya Urdu based in Islamabad. Follow him on Twitter @mansoorjafar
