Parallel power

There is no doubt that the Rangers, within their narrow mission of reducing violence in Karachi, have succeeded to a great extent. Equally, no one is in two minds over the fact that the police in the city are hopelessly politicised, with appointments in the police dictated by political parties and cops themselves acting as agents for their preferred party. It would seem to make sense then, as the Rangers have demanded in front of the Supreme Court, to allow them to set up their own police stations and have their extraordinary powers extended by a year instead of the 90 days granted by the government. A five-member bench of the Supreme Court has also given a dressing down to the police in court, saying that the drop in violence in the city was entirely to do with the Rangers and was achieved in spite of the police. Before any snap decisions are taken, though, there is cause for pause. The Rangers were brought in to deal with a specific problem and in that they have done well. But the paramilitary force was meant to supersede the police only for the short period it took to bring the city to relative peace.

Creating a parallel system of justice, where the Rangers operate independently of the police, is unlikely to be sustainable or desirable. For that we only have to look at the parallel court system in the country, where the Anti-Terrorist Courts were set up to quickly dispose of the most heinous cases. Over time, the courts have expanded their remit and, because they have a lower evidentiary standard, their verdicts are frequently overturned by higher courts on appeal. The Anti-Terrorist Courts were set up as an easy solution; in the process the hard work of reforming the justice system was conveniently ignored. Giving the Rangers their own police stations also points to the same expediency. Karachi needs an overhaul in how the police are appointed and who they are accountable to. While there is a trust deficit at the moment as far as the political parties are concerned, a permanent solution to Karachi’s problems can only be possible if political parties are brought into the process rather than having an outside solution imposed on them. What is happening right now is eerily reminiscent of the 1990s, when the Rangers were given similar broad powers but nothing like a meaningful political process was started for a proper solution to the problem. The onus has now fallen on the country’s apex court to find a solution that both addresses immediate needs and offers a long-term solution. A bloody rerun should be avoided at all costs.