The Karachi nexus

Capital suggestion

Killing data: Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani took oath of the prime ministerial office on March 25, 2008 and Asif Ali Zardari took oath of the presidential office on September 9, 2008. In 2008, there were 777 killings in Karachi. In 2013, there were 2,507 killings in Karachi and that year Karachi became the ‘murder capital of the year’ (no other major city in world recorded as many killings).

Kidnapping-for-ransom cases: In 2003, there were 33 kidnapping-for-ransom cases. In 2013, kidnapping-for-ransom cases jumped to 174 and that year Karachi captured another title, the ‘kidnapping capital of the world’.

Two-wheelers snatched: In 2006, a total of 7,085 two-wheelers were snatched. In 2013, the number of two-wheelers snatched went up to 23,153, the most number of two-wheelers snatched in any major city on the face of the planet. In 2013, Karachi snatched its third title in a single year.

Four-wheelers snatched: This figure peaked out in 2008 the year when 6,023 four-wheelers were snatched.

Post Rangers Operation September 2013: By mid-2015, killings in Karachi had dropped to 414, down 80 percent from the peak of 2,507 killings reached in 2013. By mid-2015, kidnapping-for-ransom cases were down to 14, down 92 percent from the peak of 174 kidnapping-for-ransom cases in 2013. The latest number for four-wheelers-snatched is down 75 percent and the number of two-wheelers snatched is down 50 percent.

Sindh Assembly Resolution of December 16: The resolution has specifically excluded five categories from the Rangers domain – aiding terrorism, abetting terrorism, financing terrorism, facilitating terrorism and all offices of government of Sindh.

Analysis: Crime in Karachi is like a tree. What we see above-the-ground are leaves in the form of killings, kidnapping-for-ransom cases, two and four wheelers snatched. What we don’t see is under-the-ground and what is under-the-ground is the nexus between politics, terrorism and finance. What we see above-the-ground are mere symptoms of a disease and the disease lies under-the-ground.

The Rangers are doing two things – disrupting and dismantling the political-terrorist-financing nexus. What the Rangers are doing is cutting the leaves – keep on cutting the leaves but as long as the roots are intact there shall be more leaves in times to come. In effect, the Rangers are suppressing the symptoms while the disease lies under-the-ground.

The target killers, the drug mafia, the criminal gangs, the bhatta mafia and the weapons mafia are all symptoms of a disease – the disease called the political-terrorist-financing nexus.

Disruption and dismantling does not mean defeating. Killings are down 80 percent, kidnapping-for-ransom cases are down 92 percent, four-wheel snatching is down 75 percent and two-wheel snatching is down 50 percent. Symptoms of the disease have been suppressed, the disease lives on. The political-terrorist-financing nexus has been disrupted, not defeated. The tree lives on.

The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad.

Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com. Twitter: @saleemfarrukh