Govt won’t make any compromise on Karachi law and order: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s message during his visit to Karachi was loud and clear: There will be no compromise on the law and order situation of the mega city.
However, former President Asif Ali Zardari, chief of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), has ventilated his anger over the targeted operation, dubbing it as a ‘joke’. But his provincial government, obviously because of tremendous operation, extended once again the involvement of the Rangers in dealing with hardened criminals.
Zardari’s ire is basically because of the actions being taken by the Rangers against some of his party leaders, with some of them having fled Pakistan. Sharjeel Memon, who has to lose his cabinet position because of his absence from Sindh, is one of them. However, his annoyance turned out to be a cry in the wilderness as the operation is not going to end or whittle down due to his disapproval and protest.
Meanwhile, Zardari’s close aide and former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain, who is under detention for some three and a half months, presented his side of the story for the first time before the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) judge where he was presented for extension of his remand for further investigation. He wanted to speak in more details and requested the presiding officer to hear him in chamber. But he was not obliged.
Since his arrest on August 26, Dr Asim had been facing a barrage of allegations of every kind including unprecedented minting of money, terror financing, facilitating treatment of terrorists at his private hospital etc. He never publicly opened his mouth during this spell as he found little or no opportunity to do so. But at last he could not hold his views due to the ordeal he underwent.
He dismissed all charges and expressed fears for his life. He claimed that he was being tortured in custody. “My life is in danger. They torture me, beat me up. I am being tortured so I repeat what they want me to say like a parrot. I am being wrongly accused of facilitating terrorists, but I am innocent. It is a ‘battle of egos’ and ‘somebody else’s dispute’ but I am being wrongly implicated. If all evidence is with the Rangers, then why am I in custody? If they want to kill me they should do so in an encounter. But do not torture me like this. I am a heart patient. If I die, who will be responsible?”
His statement before the ATC judge carries legal weight but what he had told the investigators does not have so much importance in the eye of law. Now, the prosecution has the burden to establish the allegations leveled against him. What he stated was not music to the ears of the Rangers, who have mainly interrogated him for at least three months before handing him over to police and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for further questioning in connection with the cases registered against him.
Generally, a detainee suffers the toughest time till his production before a court. Once, he is presented before a judicial forum, kicking off the legal processes, and has the opportunity to air his version, his woes start lessening.
Just to quote an apt example from the recent history, when Nawaz Sharif and several others were held incommunicado for thirty-eight days by military authorities after imposing martial law, nothing was known about them. But when they were presented before an ATC in Karachi, their nightmare began alleviating as they had found chances to speak publicly.
The prime minister was all praise for the Rangers and police for conducting a successful targeted operation in Karachi, but his comment that the performance should not be judged from the number of arrests made so far. Thus, he wanted authorities, to be more precise with the Sindh government, to go beyond this phase, meaning that the prosecution should be tremendously strengthened so that the arrested people were tried in courts and convicted accordingly if the charges against were proved.
He was fully supportive of the Sindh government for contributing to restoration of peace in Karachi. In attendance were Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and other top civil and military officials where he made these remarks.
Nawaz Sharif made a dig at the previous governments headed by Asif Zardari and Pervez Musharraf when he said that the Karachi operation should have been initiated eight years ago. He rightly took credit for launching the present campaign, twenty-seven months ago, after an across the board consensus including even the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which is finding fault with the operation since long.
The prime minister also said that targets of the Karachi operation were very clear – dealing with the target killers, extortionists, kidnappers for ransom and mafias. It is a hard fact that business activities picked up after an improvement in law and order and, in his words, foreign investment is being redirected to Pakistan.