Daily Times

Mr Altaf Hussain, head of the MQM, says that if the government cannot restore order and peace in Karachi, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani should resign and occupy himself doing something for which he is better qualified. Other critics and dissidents have also been asking him to quit because he does not have the talent to be an effective chief executive. He has no intention of heeding this advice. He contends that it is the provincial government’s responsibility to maintain public tranquillity in Karachi, and that he has directed the Sindh chief minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, and his cabinet colleagues to take the necessary steps. This is not likely to be taken as an adequate response.

Some aspects of the situation in Karachi are clear. Quite a few persons, between 10 and 20 and at times even more, get killed every day. MQM spokesmen claim that many of these persons are Urdu-speaking people. That may be true. Other versions have it that those killed are mostly poor working men and their women and children, and that they are politically unaligned. Both interpretations may be correct. One will want to know who these killers are and why they are engaged in this gruesome activity. Once again there are several explanations, but let me first mention the ones that are more commonly offered. Newsmen have interviewed residents of the neighbourhoods where the killings have been taking place more frequently. Surprisingly, many of the interviewees seemed to think that the government itself had been instigating the murders. But they did not have a satisfactory explanation of why it should want to do so. Still another interpretation maintains that each of the three mainstream parties in the area — the PPP, MQM, and ANP — has its own gang of hit-men that does its bidding but whose members feel free to commit acts of violence and other crimes as the spirit moves them. They may, for instance, be involved in the enormous number of car liftings, snatching of motorcycles and mobile phones, and other acts of robbery that take place in Karachi every day. The culprits are known to the authorities but they are not caught and prosecuted, which means that their violations of the law have the approval of those who are professedly the enforcers of law and order. It follows that the political parties named above, who are coalition partners in the provincial and the central governments, are interacting with one another as allies and adversaries at the same time. They are deceiving the people who had voted for them in the preceding election.

Extortion is being practiced on a large scale in the business districts of Karachi. A gangster goes to a shopkeeper, hands over a note to him, demanding that he deliver a certain sum of money to a named person at a designated place, failing which his business will be destroyed and he himself, along with his family members, will be placed in harm’s way and possibly killed. It should be the easiest thing in the world for government agencies to obtain from the victims the extortionist’s name and address and arrest him. But this is not being done; meaning once again that the authorities themselves may also be participating in these despicable transactions. It is said also that when the police arrest a perpetrator of violence, thieves and robbers, they are told by a minister or another high ranking official to release them. Thus the criminals walk away free with the government’s blessings.

A few days ago the government of Sindh, presumably with the approval of the central government, gave the police and the Rangers additional powers to suppress the violence in Karachi, including the authority to open fire at the rioters. They were expected to launch a big operation in the troubled areas. Several days later, the reports were that nothing more than a few televised arrests had taken place for appearance’s sake. The country faces several problems besides the turmoil in that town. There is, for instance, the well known epidemic of massive and blatant corruption, which is eating away the vitals of the state. Higher orders in the government, including the prime minister’s own establishment, participate in promoting it. It should be the function of even a halfway decent system of governance to fight corruption. But the government in Pakistan says that it will not do so, and that it will instead protect and advance those who practice it.

Pakistan is afflicted with severe shortages of the basic necessities of life, including water, power, and gas. Food prices, among those of most other items, have risen sky high with the result that many people can barely afford one meal a day and even that is insufficient in both quantity and nutritious value. Power outages for long hours have made everyone’s life difficult, and they have shut down factories and put workers out of their jobs. Prime Minister Gilani’s government is not known to have any plans or policies for straightening out the economy or even for overcoming any of the shortages. It seems to have adopted the position that if governance means solving problems, it does not want to govern.

Prime Minister Gilani has mastered the diplomatic art of saying yes when he means perhaps and saying perhaps when he means no. He applauds all the ideas and courses of action that are commended to him as being worthy. He will declare his resolve to implement them, but he will take no action in that regard. He has repeatedly stated on the floor of parliament that his government holds the judiciary in the highest esteem and carries out its verdicts. In fact, it has violated, evaded, or disregarded numerous directives of the Supreme Court. The constitution requires all organs of the state to act in aid of this court. Mr Gilani says this is a great idea, but he will not put it into practice. If obeying the Supreme Court is a part of governing, he does not want to govern.

The writer, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, is a visiting professor at the Lahore School of Economics. He can be reached at anwarsyed@cox.net