failing to inform him about their actions. The situation is ironic, after the PPP silence over the claims of the MQM that it is being unfairly targeted in the Karachi operation. Just days ago the PPP had opposed the idea of a monitoring body to look into allegations and cases of rights’ violations during the Rangers’ actions in Karachi. The claim that Dr Hussain was indicted without investigation may be true, but no one is willing to buy the PPP line. The reason is simple: in power in Sindh for the last eight years, the PPP could have easily cleaned up its own act and done much to rid the city of crime and corruption. No action was taken until the federal government and the army themselves found ways to push for action – a move that was welcomed by the PPP among other political actors whose knack for cheerleading hardly left any room for a fruitful debate and an objective assessment of the operation. The PPP appears to have been left with no allies after opposing the MQM’s demands, even though it was the PPP itself that first raised concerns over the Rangers operation when the headquarters of the Sindh Property Control Board were raided. Then the party stepped back from its position and till only last week acted as the most steadfast supporter of the Karachi operation.
If the PPP felt it would be exempt from the operation, it was mistaken. When the MQM cried wolf, the PPP was not there to support it. Now, when the PPP is crying wolf, it may not get political sympathy. Then, in the case of either party there’s hardly any telling when the fierceness of protests will give way to the softness of acquiescence or outright subservience. And there remains the most defining truth about Karachi politics – that until recently the city had been ruled and devastated by a coalition of crime and corruption under the PPP and the MQM that suffocated life without mercy. We have here a very delicate, and potentially volatile, situation. The military establishment may now be standing face to face with two major political parties in Sindh. The MQM, as we already know, has made clear its problems with the paramilitary force. The PPP now feels the same. For how long is difficult to tell. The outcome for Karachi and Sindh is a crucial one. PPP leaders have already brought the Sindh card out of the stack and asked why corruption in other provinces is not being tackled on the same level. While the people of Karachi have generally welcomed recent actions to improve law and order, the new political dimensions that have entered the battlefield may create a much higher tempo of uncertainty and instability. Already, in interior Sindh, voices are being raised against the military involvement in the province. We have on the one hand a desperate need to curb corruption, crime and terrorism. And then we have all the political complications that go with this. We need fair play and an even hand. But we also need stability, the involvement of the civilian political leadership and an effort to avoid creating strife in a country that desperately needs calm.