The government’s decision to allow “a free hand” to the Rangers and police to take across-the-board action against lawbreakers in Karachi provides a measure of the extent to which mayhem has spread. The raging violence has claimed yet another eight lives, which is reflective of the average daily toll. A critical corollary is the nosedive in economic activity, which the country’s inflation-hit economy cannot afford. According to a recent report, the daily revenue collection shortfall in the city ranges between Rs. 6 billion and Rs. 8 billion. This is indeed a highly worrisome situation, as Karachi accounts for nearly 60 percent of the country’s total revenue generation. Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has meanwhile ordered clearing of the city’s skyline of party flags of which there has sprung up a surfeit in the run up to the general elections. Significantly, Rehman Malik has equated the situation in Lyari to that in Balochistan. Allowing “a free hand” to the Rangers and the police is a step in the right direction provided the action is across-the board and uninfluenced by considerations of political affiliation. There is a need also to go after criminal gangs and mafias. Before launching the crackdown the government needs to consider all its pros and cons, aided by full intelligence feedback, so that the effort does not prove another damp squib. Lyari is a ghetto predominantly populated by the Baloch community and considered the home of many criminal gangs. What impact the proposed ‘free hand’ will entail in Karachi needs to be carefully considered. The leadership of the political parties involved in the Karachi mayhem need to develop a consensus not to come to the rescue of lawbreakers in their parties who are caught during the operation. At the same time the government must ensure that no victimisation takes place during or after the operation: It must deliver even-handed justice. Karachi is not new to such clean-up crackdowns. It is alleged that the cadres of a political party had systematically eliminated many of the police officers who had taken part in such operations in the past. The government must ensure that there is no repetition of such attacks. The Karachi situation is the cumulative result of decades of partisan misrule. However, viewing everything that goes wrong in terms of law and order needs to be tempered with realism. The political players too must put their heads together if peace is to return to the city. *