Rangers seek 'special powers' from the Supreme Court

Dunya News Report (Yaruq Malik)

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Rangers have requested the Supreme Court (SC)to provide them with ‘special powers’ to investigate, question and prosecute the suspects involved in extortion, terrorism, kidnappings and target killings in Karachi. Moreover, officials from Pakistan Rangers have requested the SC to set up police stations across the city.

Ranger officials have claimed that the request for special powers has been made due to the ‘laid back’ attitude of the provincial government and the city police. According to a lawyer representing Rangers, the provincial government has been slowing down the process of action against facilitators who help the criminals in Karachi. He also added that a major suspect of the Safoora Goth attack had been arrested in 2011 but was released later due to unknown circumstances.

Previously, officials from the Pakistan Rangers summoned the former president of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Qadir Patel who is accused of providing assistance to the gangsters in Lyari and providing them medical treatment at Dr. Asim’s hospital in Karachi.

However, Qadir Patel stated that he is currently residing in London and going through a medical treatment and would not be able to appear in the investigation during the first week of March. He added that he would appear before the Rangers by the end of March after his medical treatment in London is completed.

“I cannot reach Pakistan so soon. I have a medical appointment on the 10th of March and will return to Pakistan as soon as I get the report. I will reply to whatever the Rangers ask me. My hands are clean and I have no fear. I will not hide anything that comes under my knowledge.” said the former PPP president.

Interestingly, after the arrest of Uzair Baloch who is the central figure of the Lyari gang war, the serving and former leaders of the PPP are being summoned for multiple accusations of supporting gangsters in Karachi. The Rangers, at first, summoned the former leader of the PPP Zulfiqar Mirza for questioning regarding the Lyari gang war.

Last month, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif praised the performance of Pakistan Rangers and the law enforcing agencies for their efforts to bring peace and stability in Sindh through the Karachi operation. The Prime Minister added that the federal government has joined hands with the provincial government of Sindh in order to eliminate all forms of extremism in the province.

“We have controlled the law and order situation and the time will soon come when we would not need to discuss law and order, but our agenda will be the development of this city,” the PM said.
The Prime minister insisted that the law and order situation in Karachi has improved greatly and the remaining elements of street crime must be dealt with immediately.

“After controlling 70 per cent of target killings, extortion and kidnappings for ransom, please get rid of street crime,” the PM requested.
Moreover, the Rangers lead operation in Karachi to fight terrorism is being extended to the interior of Sindh in order to eliminate further networks of extremists in the province. The terrorists’ cells are reported to be working in the interior Sindh bordering Balochistan. The extension of the Karachi operation was finalized during a meeting held between Corps Commander Karachi Lt General Naveed Mukhtar and the Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah at the CM House. The implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) was also discussed during the meeting.

A possible operation lead by the Rangers was due to operate in Punjab but the ruling party did not accept the recommendation put up by the army leadership in a high-level meeting which was chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The military establishment also believes that the Punjab police do not have the required equipment or the training to fight terrorists. Therefore, the army leadership recommended that the Rangers should be given the responsibility in Punjab to track and eliminate terrorist networks.

Furthermore, The Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah has expressed dissatisfaction over the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP). While talking to the reporters, Syed Khurshid Shah said that the federal government has made no progress in the implementation of NAP which is causing a new wave of terrorist attacks in the country.

He also claimed that only 60 cases have been sent to the military courts under NAP out of the 30,000 major cases and that puts a question mark on the level of progress the federal government has made thus far.

“What progress can we expect on the NAP if terrorism cases are sent to military courts at this pace? We do not know what happened in the Army Public School and Charsadda University. I ask the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to conduct a judicial investigation into the two tragedies,” the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader said.

Khurshid Shah also accused the federal government of terrorizing its political opponents by the use of force. He warned the Prime Minister of the consequences and said that these ‘terror tactics’ by the federal government will harm democracy in Pakistan.

In 2013, Pakistan Muslim League-N under Nawaz Sharif took power. Among the priorities was the project to cleanse Karachi from terrorism. The first step to ensure this was to create a National plan to counter terrorism which was later passed as a bill from the National Assembly of Pakistan in 2013. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif initiated the operation in 2013 under the Pakistan Rangers and gave them complete autonomy to strike and eliminate any potential threats.

During the first phase of the operation, around 9000 criminals were arrested during 677 raids. The federal government has faced strong opposition from the ruling party (PPP) and MQM. This resistance was due to the multiple raids that were conducted at nine zero, the political centre of MQM, and the arrest of numerous people belonging to the PPP.

Currently, the operation is in its second phase which is said to be ‘stronger’ and more aggressive. The Prime Minister of Pakistan remains firm on the completion of the Karachi Operation at ‘all costs’.