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Karachi:
law and order
By Ardeshir Cowasjee
Our
Political parties have never inserted the law and order issue in
thier list of priorities: Ardeshir Cowasjee.
To
continue to harp on the subject, to continue to be a bore when it
comes to this vital topic — law and order — once again, under the
unchanging prevailing circumstances, it is necessary to trot out
words spoken by the founder and maker of this country.
On Aug 11, 1947, three days prior to the birth of Pakistan, Mohammad
Ali Jinnah did what he could, he told the future legislators that
the first and foremost duty of any government is to impose and
maintain law and order — to stress, the first duty.
They did not listen then; now they simply do not care. They have
more pressing matters on their minds.
The cause of law and order was not furthered by the Objectives
Resolution which was proposed by Jinnah’s successor, his one time
right-hand man, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, six months after
his death, and passed by the constituent assembly. It was an
incitement to intolerance, and as we know intolerance leads to
violence, and violence which through lack of will cannot be
controlled negates law and order. This country over the years has
not simply been subjected to criminality emanating from all levels
of society, the highest to the lowest, but with massive religious
intolerance which has led to unending sectarian strife and finally
to the Taliban and their territorial plans.
Karachi is no stranger to the absence of law and order, much of it
politically inspired. None of our political parties have ever
inserted the issue of law and order in their list of priorities — it
has always been a non-starter. As an illustration of the absence and
of the involvement of politics in that absence, let us just take the
headlines on one day as were printed on the front page of the
Metropolitan section of this newspaper — on June 5, last Friday.
‘PPP man kidnapped, killed’, ‘Two MQM activists shot dead’, ‘JI
activist killed in Surjani’, ‘Two Haqiqi workers gunned down’. A
broad coverage of the political spectrum, would one not say?
One of this city’s main scourges is the land-grabbing mafia and the
consequent turf wars between the grabbers of rival political
parties. The government of Sindh has finally awoken and apparently
decided to do something about it — its reasoning will puzzle many of
us as we do not expect concrete action from any of our governments,
and we certainly do not expect results. However, we can always hope.
On May 22, 2009 the chief secretary of Sindh put his signature to a
notification (No.SO(C-1V)SGA&CD/4-35/09) which reads: 'The
Government of Sindh is pleased to constitute a committee with the
composition & TORs as under ...'. Listed is the convener and four
members tasked with 'Identifying the areas of state/CDGK land under
encroachment', and the 'Causes and elements helping proliferation of
the menace'. They were to come up with “Short-term/long-term
measures to retrieve encroached land and overcome the menace' and
'Submit presentation and report also on 24/05/09 positively'.
Three days later, on May 25, a section officer of the services,
general administration &coordination Department signed another
notification (No.SO(C-1V)SGA&CD/4-37/09) which reads : 'The
competent authority has been pleased to constitute a high level
provincial committee to tackle the issue of land
grabbing/encroachment in Karachi with the following compositions &
TORs ...'. Under the chairmanship of the chief secretary will sit 10
members.
They have been instructed 'To ascertain the factors leading to
current problem of land grabbing. To identify areas in and around
Karachi within one week which have specific trouble spots either
currently active or have the potential to threaten law and order in
future; To identify the main factors and their supporters (official
and non-official) involved in each case of land grabbing. To suggest
remedial measures, both short and long term.'
And, amazingly thinking in terms of law and order and to 'ensure no
breach of the peace' in the short term, 'Joint check posts of
Rangers and police to be established in identified areas with
immediate effect. No land transactions between the government and
private parties be allowed in specified areas henceforth. This shall
not apply to cases where international commitments, foreign
investments and government projects are involved. No construction be
allowed in areas which are disputed or even have prima facie
evidence of being contentious'
And in the long term, a 'Special police force to be established
specifically to check the menace of land grabbing as envisaged in
Section 15(a) of Sindh Public Property (Removal and Encroachment)
Act, 1975, as amended in 2008'.
The committee was to submit its final report to the chief minister
within a week. Do we suppose this has been done? Now we wait for the
chief minister to ponder over the report and order that actual
action be taken. Knowing Qaim Ali Shah’s habit of commuting between
Karachi and Islamabad, we may be in for a long wait.
In last week’s column I said that city nazim Mustafa Kamal had
written on several occasions to CCPO Waseem Ahmed lamenting the
collusive role of the police in land grabbing. What is the CCPO to
do? One must suppose that the policeman on the beat is as honest as
the ‘top guns’ who rule the roost. Apart from that factor, the force
is woefully undermanned.
London, a city of 7,387,868 (half that of Karachi) relatively
law-abiding citizens has a police strength of 47,874, a ratio of
1:155. Delhi with a population of 14,000,000 has a police force of
58,000, a ratio of 1:241. Lahore with its 10,000,000 has a force of
30,946, a ratio of 1:323. We, with our estimated 18,000,000 have a
force of 34,212, a ratio of 1:526.
On to a relatively related topic — US special envoy, our latter-day
viceroy, Richard Holbrooke: he spends more time in Pakistan than
does our president, the itinerant Asif Zardari of the ever-present
prosthodontic grin. This last visit Holbrooke was here for all of
three days and found time to visit the Supreme Court and chat with
the good chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry. According to a
press report of June 5, the two discussed 'matters relating to
judicial reforms as per national judicial policy and the whole
judicial structure of Pakistan'.
A news item the same day informed us that our footloose and
fancy-free president is leaving us once again this coming Friday to
embark upon a visit to six countries over the next four weeks.
arfc@cyber.net.pk
DAWN. Sunday, 07 Jun, 2009 |
