| October 6, 2001 | Saturday | Rajab 18, 1422 |
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Another sectarian massacre
ID cards: more delays?
IT IS encouraging to know that the government is taking precautionary measures to cope with any untoward internal situation that may develop when military action against the Taliban begins. The measures include the mobilization of civil defence volunteers, cancellation of all leave, and, in Sindh, the calling up of the reserve police to deal with any emergency. Sensitive installations are already under strict security, while measures for the protection of diplomats have been beefed up. There are also reports of the law enforcement agencies getting riot gear, rubber bullets, tear gas shells, barbed wire, etc. to face any emergency. With Pakistan having become a front-line state once again, the country’s internal scene is now being closely watched by the world. There is no doubt the occasion demands complete internal unity, which the nation by and large has been able to demonstrate. However, there are domestic pressures that the government will have to be mindful of.
There are, for instance, a couple of parties that have serious reservations about the latest shift in the government’s policies vis-a-vis Afghanistan and terrorism generally. While they are fully entitled to their dissenting views, one notes with concern the consequences that may follow if differences are not kept within limits. On Sept 21 there was a strike called by some religious parties, but the rally in Karachi degenerated into violence, with at least four people killed. A repetition of such a situation — on a wider scale — remains a worrying possibility, unless the government and the political parties get together and devise a strategy to ensure peace.
While the possible fallout from the impending military action will be felt throughout the country, Karachi has some special problems. The city is mini-Pakistan. People from all over the country live here and have made it the mega city it is. Yet one notes with regret the city’s vulnerability to violence and strife. There have been quite a few occasions in the past when mobs roused by demagogy held the city hostage to their whims and caprices. The murder of Maulana Yusuf Ludhianvi, for instance, comes to mind, when a furious mob indulged in acts of arson and vandalism and paralyzed large parts of the city.
The city is host to a minimum of 300,000 Afghan refugees. Undeniably, a vast majority of them want to live in peace and harmony. However, not all of them are mature enough to avoid falling prey to demagogy. One does not know how certain political parties would behave in Karachi when action begins in Afghanistan. Violence has a tendency to snowball, and its victims often are innocent citizens who have nothing to do with the issue at hand.
Clearly, the government must prepare contingency plans. While the law enforcement agencies are expected to do their job and use minimum of force when unavoidable, it should be noted that administrative measures alone are not enough. There is, in fact, a greater need for the government to get in touch with the political parties, ulema and leaders having influence with the Afghan refugees and their Pakistani sympathizers. These parties and leaders should be made to realize their responsibility at this critical hour. While they should be free to criticize the government, they should know what the consequences to the city’s peace would be if dissent degenerated into violence. It is time the government came out with a clear-cut strategy to maintain domestic peace, especially in Karachi.
THE streets of Karachi were once again drenched with innocent blood on Thursday, when masked gunmen riding motorcycles fired indiscriminately at worshippers in an imambargah. Among the six people killed were two children whose only crime was that they were from a particular sect. During the last two years, over 200 persons have been killed in incidents of sectarian violence across the country. The scope of the violence has also widened in this period. Where Sunni and Shia activists would once resort to tit-for-tat killings, the new phase of violence increasingly targets worshippers, prominent citizens and professionals such as doctors.
Reacting to this upsurge in sectarian violence, the government recently banned two extremist groups from opposite ends of the sectarian divide, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Sipah-e-Mohammad. It also put two parties, the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the Tehrik Jafria Pakistan, under observation and issued a stern warning to them to behave or face a similar ban. While this move was widely welcomed, the action has not stemmed the tide of violence. In fact, police officials suspect that Thursday’s attack in Karachi was a response to the arrest of certain prominent Sunni extremists. The government must not allow such dastardly attacks to deter it from taking a hard line against sectarianism. It must also urgently beef up its intelligence apparatus as well as security at sensitive places of worship.
Pakistan’s steady lurch towards religious extremism began in the eighties under the patronage of the Ziaul Haq regime. The Iranian revolution and the Afghan conflict both fuelled this trend and radicalized a new generation of sectarian activists. Years of inaction and appeasement by successive governments have now emboldened certain sectarian outfits to a point where they have come to believe they can kill their opponents with impunity. It is time for the government to remove this impression and crack down hard on those who commit such terrible acts. It is also time to reflect on what sort of society we have become. How long can we tolerate a situation where innocent people can be mowed down in mosques while bowing their heads in prayer?
THE National Database and Registration Authority now says that it is ready to deliver hundreds of new computerized identity cards at the applicants’ doorsteps. The announcement comes after widespread complaints from the public that even though all the required formalities had been completed several months ago, hundreds of thousands of applicants had yet to receive the new computerized cards. Nadra’s provincial chief in Sindh explained the other day that certain computer glitches and manual rechecking of all the processed applications were the real causes of delay. He explained that the restriction of affixing the thumb impression on the prescribed form in a certain way had now been withdrawn to facilitate the public.
Nadra’s provincial headquarters is processing 3,000 to 4,000 new applications a day, while an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 application forms are being handed out to people on a daily basis. This still leaves a huge gap between the number of applications being filled in and those being processed, and means that there will continue to be a tremendous backlog, and hence delays. Understandably, Nadra cannot be asked to recruit and train more people to clear this backlog. What it can do, however, is to come out clean and extend its deadline for delivery of new ID cards which is now six to eight weeks, and which it cannot possibly meet under the prevailing circumstances. Also, it would help if Nadra properly publicized where its mobile teams and offices are located in a given district, as citizens often have a tough time locating one near their places of residence. Sadly, it appears that the information part of what Nadra is doing is the weakest link in the chain and hence the biggest cause of inconvenience to the citizens.