DAWN - Cowasjee Corner; 06 December, 1998
The city of Karachi-2
By Ardeshir Cowasjee
TO SAY that the vast majority of the men and women who misgovern Pakistan are morally and mentally flawed is a gross understatement. To say that those who sit in opposition are equally, if not more, fatally flawed is also an understatement.
We must, therefore, correctly assume that in the short term, say, of fifteen years, no progress or improvement can be expected in the governance of this country. It will not be governed, as opposed to ruled, within the bounds of democracy even as we accept the definition of the practice of that political system.
We have just handed to the US irrefutable proof that we as a nation meekly suffer a government of clowns. We sent to Washington 120 trippers to carry our empty begging bowl. The size of the circus undoubtedly helped lower to VIP-2(B) the category of the official welcome afforded. President Clinton threw in a couple of sops, barely replenishing the life supporting system. Can the prime minister not realize that we are being kept alive in the critical care unit because the morgue is full?
As for the city of Karachi, it will for long, until the present system and its manipulators are revolutionized, remain ungovernable. We who live here must thank our stars for any respite good luck may bestow on us. That the last incompetent and corrupt coalition government of Sindh broke up and vanished is a boon. That our prime minister, in a rare fit of wisdom, finally made up his mind to impose governor's rule, and that the sitting governor happens to be a reasonable man, are two further strokes of good luck. For their own safety and sustainability, the people of Karachi must now take the maximum advantage of the present situation, and waste no time in an effort to try to set some things as right as is possible.
The fish has rotted from the head downwards, but this does not mean that we cannot start a salving and healing process from the tail upwards - the tail being the killings, the violence, and maladministration with particular regard to the police force.
Coincidentally, with governor's rule, a Colombian team sponsored by the UNDP, arrived in Karachi - facilitator Dr Paul Oquist, chief of the Governance Unit of the UNDP based in Islamabad, mission chief Dr Dario Barberena, Coordinator of the Colombian High Commission for Peace, and Dr Edgar Suarez, a former police chief and now adviser to the Colombian Presidency High Commission for Peace. They are hardened men, used to dealing with the methods adopted by terrorists, drug dealers and other dangerous criminals. Their objective was "to contribute to the restoration of sustainable peace and citizens' rights and security" in Karachi, no mean a challenge.
The Colombians recommended deweaponization as the first step. To achieve this, we need: computerised re-registration of arms; a geographic information system and spatial crime analysis; voluntary and paid surrender of arms, and amnesty for petty criminals who surrender; rewards for information leading to arms recovery; a mass media campaign; CPLC and other NGO participation; direct campaigns by parents, teachers, students and mosques; surprise raids and speedy punishments; swift and strict action against arms and drug smuggling; control of national arms production and infiltration.
The second recommendation was the formation of the Metropolitan Police. The police force must be depoliticized, controlled by an autonomous police commission; it must be technically equipped, modernized and professionalized. Needed are municipal and community contributions for funding. Salaries and social benefits for the police force need to be at least doubled, and its members will have to be subjected to a cultural change whereby they gain self-respect. Similarly, public confidence and respect will have to be built up. The citizens and their rights are to be defended, not the politicians and their powers, and the community will have to learn to participate in policing.
Next in their recommendations were judicial reforms, jail reforms and the legal protection of citizens' rights.
The team was here for ten days and during that period talked to a cross-section of around 200 citizens of Karachi, including politicians of the MQM, the PML, the PPP and the JI (the MQM-H was non-cooperative, laid down unrealistic preconditions, and a meeting could not be arranged), businessmen, journalists, bureaucrats, and, of course, members of the city's police force.
I met them at the end of their visit. They were obviously field men, not mere pen-pushers. They answered my questions succintly. If you think you have touched bottom, you are wrong. Living conditions will worsen a lot if the rot is not stemmed. You have a long way to go. Sustainable peace may be achieved after fifteen years from the start, and then too only if you consistently have governments with a singular will for peace, lasting peace. You are fortunate in having an NGO as organized, as efficient, and as clued-up as the CPLC. The CPLC data base will enable the about-to-be- organized Karachi Metropolitan Police Department to take off with a flying start.From the number of people killed or kidnapped, from the tally of vehicles stolen, assess for yourselves, citizens of Karachi, how the PML-MQM coalition government has served this city.
Killings : 1997: Jan - 6, Feb - 8, (enter Jatoi & partners), March - 22, April - 26, May - 34, June - 67, July - 72, August - 52, Sept - 17, Oct - 27, Nov - 42, Dec - 23; Total 396, including 64 MQM(A), 53 MQM(H). 1998: Jan - 30, Feb - 45, March - 43, April - 41, May - 57, June - 139, July - 76, August - 79, Sept - 62, Oct - 70, (exit J&P). Nov - 9; Total 651, including 125 MQM(A), 69 MQM(H).
Kidnappings : (Three figures are given for each year - kidnappings for ransom; criminals arrested/cases solved; organized gangs unearthed/apprehended.) 1990 - 79, 68, 8; 1991 - 45, 43, 24; 1992 - 22, 17, 9; 1993 - 9, 7, 5; 1994 - 15, 12, 4; 1995 - 8, 6, 3; 1996 - 7, 4, 4; (enter J&P) 1997 - 19, 15, 7; 1998 - 20, 14, 7. Ninety-nine per cent of the success is attributable to the CPLC and the detection system it has delivered.
Vehicles stolen : Two figures are given for each month (four wheelers, two wheelers) 1997 - Jan - 371, 456; Feb - 348, 435; (enter J&P) March - 507, 721; April - 581, 759; May - 468, 624; June - 445, 564; July - 504, 617; Aug - 524, 658; Sept - 544, 669; Oct - 487, 549; Nov - 434, 613; Dec - 517, 576; 1998 - Jan - 539, 817; Feb - 549, 538; March - 658, 690; April - 612, 735; May - 504, 676; June - 614, 771; July - 539, 668; Aug - 641, 646; Sept - 628, 651; Oct - 742, 600; (exit Jatoi & Partners) Nov - 414, 391.
These statistics are not police figures, but people's figures, collated by the CPLC, the NGO of the people, financed by them. Taking the above figures and those for other crimes, such as land-grabbing, illegal constructions, and other forms of corruption, one finds that their graph follows the same pattern.
My bureacratic friends, both retired and serving, tend to decry the efforts and achievements of the CPLC. Despite the prime minister's endorsement and the governor's insistence, certain serving head-honchos are still surreptitiously blocking the establishment of the Karachi Metropolitan Police. If there is to be progress, they should be transferred. Bureaucrats are extremely jealous of their territory and highly resentful when another breed delivers what they have failed to deliver. This, as Soros says, is because they are more interested in self- preservation than in carrying out their duties. When I ask the retired and other sceptics, whether they would like to help the CPLC by donating time or money, they run.
J&P are letting it be known, unsubtly, that they intend to be back with us soon, that moves are afoot for a kiss-and-make-up scenario and the PML-MQM combine will then be ready to climb back into bed together. But do we want them, or a similar lot, back? Jatoi and his family are so confident that they have not bothered to return their commandeered government vehicles - son Jatoi, brother-in-law Jatoi, third cousin twice removed Jatoi, and so on. They not only have cars, but police mobiles in attendance. Jatoi still indulges in his illegal practice of ordering that traffic lights be switched off along the route he is to travel so that he is not inconvenienced by having to stop. Let the rest of us boil! Will the new IGP please ensure that this malpractice ceases.