Sindh to raise rangers force, assembly told

KARACHI, Feb 3: As the members of the Sindh Assembly discussed law and order in the city — focussing more on desirability than on ground realities — one man was killed and three others injured in a terrorist attack on Monday. The legislators, however, failed to come up with specific proposals to tackle the issue of terrorism.

The proceedings were also marred by the disruptive tribal feud between the Mahars and the Jatois, election-related killings in the province, the government’s failure to provide security to the common man and the police excesses.

The provincial home minister expressed the resolve of raising a force of the Rangers in Sindh quite in the style it had existed in the pre-One-Unit days.

Members belonging to the opposition Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal crossed swords with those of the ruling Muttahida Qaumi Movement accusing them of employing strong-arm tactics during the by-elections.

Friction among members of the ruling coalition became evident as some lawmakers took a dim view of the remarks made by a Muttahida Quami Movement legislator about illegal trafficking in arms and drugs from the Frontier.

The treasury benches sought refuge in semantics and generalized assurances, saying that “all good proposals coming from the opposition in this regard will be given due consideration and implemented”.

However, this could not prevent the opposition from mounting a frontal attack on the government.

The Sindh chief minister, Sardar Ali Mohammad Mahar, finally broke his vow of silence and said that the life and property of the people of Sindh would be protected and law and order would remain a top priority of his government.

“If there is no peace in the province, no investment will come here,” the chief minister said, adding that “we have to control the flight of investment and investors from here”.

He, however, asked for some time to settle down.

Referring to car-lifting, the chief minister spoke about a plan aimed at setting up a border security force which “would not only combat crime but would also provide job opportunities to a large number of people”.

Referring to tribal feuds, Mr Mahar said that no one in Sindh wanted such confrontations. He said some illiterate people were responsible for such conflicts.

The chief minister said that the feud between the Mahars and the Jatois would be resolved by a Jirga on Feb 6 and Feb 7.

About the cases of kidnapping for ransom, Mr Mahar said that they must stop, adding that stringent measures had been taken to check them. He said that he had also talked to the Balochistan government about the issue. He said that if in a case of kidnapping for ransom, involvement of police officials was proved, their services would be terminated.

He announced that children of 100 police officials killed in the line of duty would be recruited as ASIs while the government would bear the educational expenses of others.

He said that in order to improve the police system, the federal government had been approached. He added that under a proposal the investigation wing of the police force would be brought under a district police officer on an experimental basis for two months in the districts of Sanghar and Shikarpur. He said if it worked well, the formula would be introduced in other districts as well.

About the presence of the Rangers in Sindh, Mr Mahar said that the paramilitary force was required because the police did not have the proper capability to combat terrorists.

Earlier, winding up the debate, Home Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed proposed that under the reformed police structure the SHO should be made more accountable. He noted that law and order had also deteriorated in the province because of the interference of the Centre.

He said that unless the new system was properly implemented through amendments, law and order would remain bad.

He said that the strength of the police force was not enough to deal with the menace of terrorism. That was why, he concluded, the Rangers and other forces were needed in the province.

He said: “We don’t want the Rangers. We will raise our own Rangers force the way we had in the pre-One Unit days.” He said that the border security force, planned by the chief minister, was a step in that direction.

In a way it was the opposition’s day which put the government in a spot about the question of resolving tribal conflicts by a jirga. It also criticized the government for failing to curb the rising incidence of suicides and expressed concern over the killing of activists during the by-elections.

The leader of the opposition, Nisar Khuhro, said Sindh was facing these problems because the previous government had denied the people of the province their right to govern themselves after Hakim Said’s murder.

Mr Khuhro said that the convoy system on the highways, rising incidence of suicides and unemployment showed how insecure people were. He said that if the government which had introduced ordinances banning chanda had been sincere in tackling the issue of law and order, it could have promulgated some ordinances to amend the existing police laws.

He was critical of the increase in tribal feuds and called for resolving them through a jirga. “It is an attempt to circumvent the rule of law and make the police redundant,” he said.

He also criticized the government for turning a blind eye to the show of fire-arms by the caravan of provincial ministers during the by-elections.

The tirade was initiated by Syed Qaim Ali Shah who had focussed his argument on the tribal conflict involving the Mahars and the Jatois and the killing of three PPP supporters during the by-elections in Khairpur-Nawabshah area.

He said: “When two people are killed in the city, the chief minister and others visit the bereaved families but not a word was uttered by them when three PPP supporters were killed in the interior of Sindh.”

Faisal Sabzwari of the Muttahida Quami Movement, while responding to the contentions of Humaira Alwani, Tariq Masood and others, appealed for reconciling the differences and called for local policing.

He wondered why the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, which was in power in the Frontier, had failed to stop illegal arms from filtering into Sindh from Darra, Peshawar and other places. Thereupon, amid great uproar, Hamidullah of the Muttahida Majlis- i-Amal raised his objection, alleging that recently a MQM activist had been arrested with fire-arms.

This also drew an angry response from the education minister, Irfanullah Marwat, who said that Peshawar was also a part of Pakistan.