Opinion Karachi burns,again
A register of reports and views from the Pakistan press.
Karachi burns,again
Violence returned to Karachi this week. Daily Times reported on January 17: Partial curfew has been imposed in some areas of Karachi while the Sindh government has decided to deploy commandos equipped with helicopters to conduct raids in troubled areas after some five people were killed in a fresh wave of political violence… Neither political dialogue nor security agencies efforts have been able to check the growing menace of target killings in the southern port city,where the death toll in four consecutive days of violence has reached 29. The News reported interior minister Rehman Malik blamed a third party for the unrest. The PPP,MQM and the ANP are united to expose the forces involved in target killings, he added… Pillion riding was banned,and Daily Times reported on January 18 that at least 500 people had been arrested for violating the ban.
The law enforcement agencies resorted to crackdowns on identified areas,reported Daily Times on January 19: Around a thousand security personnel… went house-to-house rounding up dozens of men in Orangi Town as part of a crackdown on soaring violence in the provincial capital. Rangers personnel detained over 300 persons and seized a large cache of weapons… According to reports,the search operation was initiated on tip-offs provided by men who had earlier been arrested,who revealed that some miscreants involved in the recent target killings were hiding in these areas.
The missing and the murdered
After Justice Javed Iqbal,the head of the Supreme Court bench hearing cases about missing persons,had his parents murdered,the other two judges on the bench were reported by Dawn on January 18 to have ruled in a solemn but assertive mood,reminding the authorities,including intelligence agencies… that they were bound to trace the people who had been missing for years,and said that state organs should refrain from taking actions which were illegal… Usually Justice Javed Iqbal heads the three-judge bench,but he has been in Lahore since the tragic murder of his parents last week… The court hinted at summoning of ISI Director General Lt-Gen Shuja Pasha,saying it had no other option but to summon him.
Meanwhile,the murder mystery of Justice Iqbals parents,which became national news last week,saw a twist,reported The News on January 19: the police have arrested two alleged killers,one of them a son of the victims. The accused,Naveed Iqbal,the younger stepbrother of Justice Javed Iqbal,confessed to killing his father and stepmother with the abetment of two accomplices…
Powerless minister re-empowered
Daily Times reported on January 20 that the minister of state for ports and shipping,Sardar Nabeel Gabol,tendered his resignation,declaring himself a powerless minister… He was quoted as saying: As a minister of state Im not free to serve the people of my constituency,Lyari,for the last two years. In a volte face,Gabol rejoined the cabinet,reported The Express Tribune on January 21: Nabeel Gabol had called on the prime minister and the prime minister had assured him of the redress of his grievances… Sources said Gabol stepped down in protest against a massive operation by Rangers and police commandos in Orangi Town and a possible crackdown in his home constituency of Lyari. However,a one-line handout by the media office of PM Yousaf Raza Gilani attributed the decision to unspecified personal reasons.
Blasphemy law update
The News reported on January 19 that PM Gilani tried to allay the suspicions of Pakistans religious right,which apprehends a PPP-sponsored change to Pakistans blasphemy law. Addressing an Ulema and Mashaikh Conference on Religious Tolerance in Islam, gilani asked: When I say something to the opposition,they believe me,and even the judiciary believes me but when I categorically said that there was no intention of the government to bring any amendment in the blasphemy law,then why did you not believe me?
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