Raid in Karachi

The Rangers raid on Urdu Bazaar in Karachi on Monday night, which killed four alleged militants, is a reminder that despite the considerable improvement in the law-and-order situation in the city, there is still much work to be done. The raid took place after a captured militant had tipped the Rangers off. According to reports, three of the militants blew themselves up to evade capture, killing a child in the process. There was also a long firefight in which four Rangers personnel were injured. The ISPR has said the militants belonged to Jundullah. Quite apart from Karachi’s other problems with organised crime, the militant threat is a separate and terrifying security threat. At first, it was believed that members of militant groups were mainly concentrated in the outskirts of the city but the Rangers operation has shown that their tentacles have spread throughout Karachi. The city itself has not been targeted by as many attacks as other parts of the country, but it is believed militant groups raise funds in Karachi through crime and have sleeper cells in place.

The Urdu Bazaar raid came on the heels of the Sindh government’s decision to extend the Rangers’ special policing powers for another 90 days. But the extension this time proved slightly controversial since the centre rejected recommendations by the Sindh government to relegate the role of the Rangers to that of merely assisting the police. Even if this suggestion has not been taken up this time, it needs to be acknowledged that the Rangers are a stopgap solution and eventually regular law-enforcement agencies will have to take the reins. This requires the provincial government to ensure the police have the funding and training to investigate and disrupt militant networks in Karachi. Police reforms have not been a priority of the government, with accusations against the PPP that it is focused only on ensuring its own men are in charge. As the Urdu Bazaar raid has shown, the militancy menace is still thriving and rooting it out must be a law-enforcement priority. Otherwise, all the good work done in the past few years will be for naught and Karachi will become a breeding ground for militancy.