PML-N reluctant to support calls for Army action
August 24, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Despite calls from several sections of the society to deploy Pakistan Army in Karachi to clear the bloody mess, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is evidently reluctant to air any such demand or support this idea.
It feels that neither the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), nor the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) nor the Awami National Party (ANP) is speaking truth about the Karachi situation as they are parties to it. Therefore, there is a dire need to get the input from intelligence agencies to diagnose the disease in order to cure it once and for all.
“Unless we precisely know the disease, we would not like the Pakistan Army to be in the field in Karachi,” PML-N spokesman Senator Pervez Rashid told The News. The best way, he said, is that spy agencies should tell the parliament about the Karachi situation particularly as to who are criminals involved in it, from where did they come, where did they hide after committing crimes, what are their political affiliations, if any, and who are their political backers.
Since this information is not national security related, the spy agencies would not mind to reveal it to the elected representatives, Pervez Rashid said adding that only after that a line of action could be decided about how to dispense with the mayhem in Karachi. “In the absence of an elaborate report from the state agencies, deployment of the army in Karachi may pitch the force against the people.”
While the MQM and ANP have separately recommended handing over of the Sindh metropolis to the army and so have done Pir Pagara and Mumtaz Bhutto, the Jamaat-e-Islami has opposed the involvement of the military in this job. Some others have suggested that governor’s rule should be imposed in Sindh without calling in the Pakistan Army, and police and civilian armed forces should take on the criminals.
Pervez Rashid said that if one man (Pervez Musharraf) was caught and brought back to Pakistan, he would be arraigned for creating the present situation in Karachi that he used to boast that it was his power.
The lack of enthusiasm on the part of the PML-N as well as the PPP to involve the military in Karachi brings the two major political powers on the same page on this issue, which also reflects their fear that once the army is engaged in such duty, it may extend its mandate and area of operation.
Additionally, its calling in would be taken as a failure of the government in particular and politicians in general to rectify the situation in Karachi. However, fiery senior Sindh Minister Zulfiqar Mirza has been quoted as saying that the Constitution allows for calling the army in Karachi if the situation gets out of hand. The army should only be called in if police and Rangers fail to control the situation and political parties should not point fingers at each other and should take responsibility of the situation in Karachi, he prescribed.
Legal experts point out that it is the federal government that is to order deployment of the army in Karachi under Article 245, which says (1) the Armed Forces shall, under the directions of the Federal Government defend Pakistan against external aggression or threat of war, and, subject to law, act in aid of civil power when called upon to do so. (2) The validity of any direction issued by the Federal Government under clause (1) shall not be called in question in any court. (3) A high court shall not exercise any jurisdiction under Article 199 in relation to any area in which the Armed Forces of Pakistan are, for the time being, acting in aid of civil power in pursuance of Article 245: Provided that this clause shall not be deemed to affect the jurisdiction of the high court in respect of any proceeding pending immediately before the day on which the armed forces start acting in aid of civil power. (4) Any proceeding in relation to an area referred to in clause (3) instituted on or after the day the armed forces start acting in aid of civil power and pending in any high court shall remain suspended for the period during which the armed forces are so acting.
Way back in 1992, the Pakistan Army under General Asif Nawaz Janjua had launched a military operation in Karachi during the first stint of Nawaz Sharif as prime minister in which his political ally, MQM, was targeted. A few weeks before it, Altaf Hussain quietly left Pakistan for Britain where he been living in exile since then.
The Nawaz Sharif government was opposed to the operation but the then army chief, who had highly strained relations with the prime minister, wanted it at all costs and started it without taking the government into confidence. Despite the military operation, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, during his official visit to Britain in June that year, met Altaf Hussain at the London hotel he was staying.
It feels that neither the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), nor the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) nor the Awami National Party (ANP) is speaking truth about the Karachi situation as they are parties to it. Therefore, there is a dire need to get the input from intelligence agencies to diagnose the disease in order to cure it once and for all.
“Unless we precisely know the disease, we would not like the Pakistan Army to be in the field in Karachi,” PML-N spokesman Senator Pervez Rashid told The News. The best way, he said, is that spy agencies should tell the parliament about the Karachi situation particularly as to who are criminals involved in it, from where did they come, where did they hide after committing crimes, what are their political affiliations, if any, and who are their political backers.
Since this information is not national security related, the spy agencies would not mind to reveal it to the elected representatives, Pervez Rashid said adding that only after that a line of action could be decided about how to dispense with the mayhem in Karachi. “In the absence of an elaborate report from the state agencies, deployment of the army in Karachi may pitch the force against the people.”
While the MQM and ANP have separately recommended handing over of the Sindh metropolis to the army and so have done Pir Pagara and Mumtaz Bhutto, the Jamaat-e-Islami has opposed the involvement of the military in this job. Some others have suggested that governor’s rule should be imposed in Sindh without calling in the Pakistan Army, and police and civilian armed forces should take on the criminals.
Pervez Rashid said that if one man (Pervez Musharraf) was caught and brought back to Pakistan, he would be arraigned for creating the present situation in Karachi that he used to boast that it was his power.
The lack of enthusiasm on the part of the PML-N as well as the PPP to involve the military in Karachi brings the two major political powers on the same page on this issue, which also reflects their fear that once the army is engaged in such duty, it may extend its mandate and area of operation.
Additionally, its calling in would be taken as a failure of the government in particular and politicians in general to rectify the situation in Karachi. However, fiery senior Sindh Minister Zulfiqar Mirza has been quoted as saying that the Constitution allows for calling the army in Karachi if the situation gets out of hand. The army should only be called in if police and Rangers fail to control the situation and political parties should not point fingers at each other and should take responsibility of the situation in Karachi, he prescribed.
Legal experts point out that it is the federal government that is to order deployment of the army in Karachi under Article 245, which says (1) the Armed Forces shall, under the directions of the Federal Government defend Pakistan against external aggression or threat of war, and, subject to law, act in aid of civil power when called upon to do so. (2) The validity of any direction issued by the Federal Government under clause (1) shall not be called in question in any court. (3) A high court shall not exercise any jurisdiction under Article 199 in relation to any area in which the Armed Forces of Pakistan are, for the time being, acting in aid of civil power in pursuance of Article 245: Provided that this clause shall not be deemed to affect the jurisdiction of the high court in respect of any proceeding pending immediately before the day on which the armed forces start acting in aid of civil power. (4) Any proceeding in relation to an area referred to in clause (3) instituted on or after the day the armed forces start acting in aid of civil power and pending in any high court shall remain suspended for the period during which the armed forces are so acting.
Way back in 1992, the Pakistan Army under General Asif Nawaz Janjua had launched a military operation in Karachi during the first stint of Nawaz Sharif as prime minister in which his political ally, MQM, was targeted. A few weeks before it, Altaf Hussain quietly left Pakistan for Britain where he been living in exile since then.
The Nawaz Sharif government was opposed to the operation but the then army chief, who had highly strained relations with the prime minister, wanted it at all costs and started it without taking the government into confidence. Despite the military operation, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, during his official visit to Britain in June that year, met Altaf Hussain at the London hotel he was staying.
