PM Gillani is right in warning politicians to deliver in Karachi to save democracy. Islamabad and Sindh should strategize to undertake the operation in Karachi to restore peace, bring culprits to book and de-weaponize it. PPP has majority in Sindh and therefore it has the political backing of the public to make a government and deliver. PML (N) and other parties in center can render their support to PPP on Karachi operation to strengthen democracy, deliver justice and end politics of extortions and target killings in Sindh. Mian Nawaz Sharif should come forward to play his role in restoring law and order in Karachi.
The calls for inducting military in Karachi are premature at this stage and a handful of options can still help restore peace in Karachi. Military should insist on political and legal accountability at this stage. Gillani has wisely rejected calls for inviting military to protect vested stake. Military is not required to control unrest at this stage because more than 50% of Karachi is peaceful. The existing number of police and rangers can restore law and order provided they are allowed to uphold law. Sindh government should rationalize police deployed on VIP duties so that maximum number of police can deployed on streets to protect public. Instead of performing routine policing duties, rangers and other paramilitary forces should only be used against identified target on lines of military in aid to civil power (IACP). Provincial borders should be sealed and provinces should be altered to catch fleeing culprits.
Politicians, legal experts and media are taking use of military IACP as a constitutional right. Since, judiciary has ended era of martial laws so Karachi situation must be settled through parliamentary democratic accountability. The era of use of military in IACP must end. In trichotomy of power in the democracy military is part of the state and relevant articles of the Constitution can only be invoked to protect interests of the state. Legal experts should not confuse the nation by giving blank cheques to the government(s) to use state institutions to cover its democratic failures and avert resultant accountability in the democracy. Military, as custodian of state cannot and must not clean the mess of rogue politicians and political parties. It should ensure that federal and provincial governments, state democratic institutions and election commission uphold the law to bring culprits to book and provide justice to public. Thus, Karachi can help start culture of democratic accountability of rogue politicians, failed political parties and strengthening of state institutions to protect public, state and democracy.
It is opined that Doctrine of Necessity (DoN) is dead after Musharraf and independence of judiciary. Judiciary is the supreme custodian of a state in trichotomy of power in a parliamentary form of democracy. Accordingly, judiciary is obliged to take notice of failure of government in Karachi including killings, extortion and other serious crimes. Military, as part of democratic “checks and balances” is obliged to support judiciary to uphold law to end target killings. It brings us to a fundamental question: can judiciary (like military), under DoN remove a democratic government if it fails to resign due to its failure to protect public? The final answer is yes. In case a failed government refuses to uphold parliamentary form of democracy and resign, Judiciary is required to remove rogue government to protect state, public and democracy. Karachi is a turf war among major political parties ahead of next elections. Therefore, judiciary is well within its legal, democratic and moral rights to safeguard life, property and state. It is a different matter if it decides to act or not. Political accountability is must to block DoN. The parliamentary democracy of Pakistan was stifled in last 60 years due to the judiciary-military nexus of DoN. Karachi is an opportunity for political parties and governments to hold themselves accountable lest state institutions are forced to use law to oust failed governments to complete transformation of parliamentary democracy from dictatorship and bring a permanent end to DoN. Politicians should not forget that today state institutions are supporting democracy as Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg did after the death of Zia ul Haq. Instead of taking over as the next martial law administrator, he supported democracy. Judiciary and military are there to support democracy provided politicians are ready to respect bindings of parliamentary democracy including resignations and accountability.
PPP can take many steps to restore law and order in Sindh. As a majority party in Sindh Assembly, it should replace governor and CM. Karachi needs one central authority to restore law and order. It cannot be run simultaneously from State Guest House, Bilawal House, Governor House and CM house. PPP has to take a decision whether it will run Sindh under Governor Rule with its own governor or an effective CM supported by a neutral yet experienced Governor. There is across the board consensus that Sindh leadership has to be changed to bring peace in Karachi. Gorbachev was master of compromises but history is witness that it was Yeltsin who used compromise to get rid of him.
Commissioner system should be restored in Karachi. Police should be returned under deputy commissioner and magistracy system should be made effective. Police Ordinance 2002 has failed to serve public, keep police free from political interference and accountable to public. It has failed to resist influence of local mayors, politicians and the influential. Independent police has failed because public is unhappy with city policing, independent police complaint commission and poor law and order. The Ordinance has turned independent police into a state within a state that is infested with corruption, excesses against public, and unwilling to respect law and courts of the land. In UK, the corruption, poor policing, high cost of policing and political interference in policing has shown that city policing is a failure.
After restoration of commissioner system, state should come down upon the criminals with full might of the law. A three-pronged strategy can help get rid of organized crime in Karachi and rest of the country. The courts should be established on street corners and justice should be served there and then including public hangings on line of China and Kuwait. The appeal process should be followed as per the existing system but without delays. The local and overseas bank accounts of individuals and political parties should be screened and scrutinize their source of earning to rule out extortion money and bank robberies. Search operations should also be conducted to trace hidden money. De-weaponization can done with help of latest techniques including imaging and modern techniques like use of chemicals to trace gun powder residue and bloodstains on person and place, by collecting fingerprints from dead bodies and matching it with NADRA finger print database to find the killers. It will accelerate process of accountability, and make the process of justice transparent and quick.
West is equally interested to see a cover up of Karachi mayhem to protect its Afghan policy. There is need to scour the record of containers to rule out reports of its role in weaponization of Karachi to arm-twist Islamabad into a compromise. Reportedly, NATO’s Afghan transport deal is worth more than $8bn. Arab media reports show that around 14,000 people have very high stakes in Pak-Afghan NATO transport deal which is also fueling standoff in Karachi. Islamabad needs to take stock of these earnings, their use and tax value so that it can recover its share $11.5t held in offshore tax havens. Thus, policy of strengthening railway, quick justice, commissioner system and political accountability can help restore peace in Karachi, end DoN and strengthen democracy.
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