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‘Political solution can end targeted killings’
By Tahir Siddiqui
EVERYBODY seems to be a victim in Karachi these days as the incidence of targeted killings of political workers in parts of the metropolis has become the order of the day. The Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi) says that over 125 party workers were targeted and killed during the current year and there has been a surge in the killing of its workers since June this year following the reports that the interned chief of his own faction of MQM-Haqiqi, Aamir Khan, was set to be released from jail.
“As many as 65 workers were shot dead, many of them at their houses, since June 1,” says Haqiqi leader Feroze Haider. He says that the Haqiqi workers were being targeted to create terror and harassment among the party workers and supporters so that they would not become active and reorganise in the wake of their leader’s release from jail.
The Haqiqi leadership is of the view that the police were not capable of stopping the targeted killing of its workers. They say that the issue could only be resolved politically. “That’s why Aamir Khan sought the intervention of political leaders and the chief justice of Pakistan to bring an end to the targeted killing of Haqiqi workers,” Feroze Haider said. According to him, the party directed its workers to move to safer places to save their lives. He suggested that political parties should condemn and voice their concern over the killing of innocent people
Whatever elements are behind these senseless killings, the inability of the police to establish their writ in society is being questioned widely. However, the police alone cannot control the situation in the given scenario, says city police chief Waseem Ahmed. As for the targeted killing of political workers, he said that a murder was seldom committed without a motive.
“Political intervention can only bring an end to these senseless killings,” he said, adding that the political parties should come forward to resolve the issue. “The police are already overworked to counter terrorism and routine crimes in a city which additionally has political, religious and ethnic issues to be resolved,” he said.
The CCPO said that the whole city was flooded with illicit weapons, which were the main cause of concern. He said that the quantum of illegal weapons in the city could be judged from the fact that an average of 40 such weapons was being seized by the police daily, while the average was 11 weapons a day last year. “We requested the home department to approach the federal government for enforcing the Surrender of Illicit Arms Act, 1991, for recovering the illegal weapons in Karachi,” he said.
Under this act, people are asked to surrender their illegal weapons up to a stipulated date and anyone caught with such a weapon after the deadline is charged with the offence that carries life imprisonment instead of a three-year sentence under the ordinary law against the possession of an illicit weapon.
Political and religious parties have their own agendas, but more surprising is the silence of the non-governmental organisations and the so-called leadership of civil society over the recent spree of targeted killings.
tahir.siddiqui@dawn.com
DAWN: Monday, 13 Jul, 2009
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