June 12, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 07, 1429

KARACHI, June 11: The Sindh cabinet’s decision to get the city’s educational institutions and hostels vacated by the Rangers has been put ‘in abeyance’ for the time being due to security considerations.

This decision was taken by the cabinet at its very first meeting held on April 13 and the federal government’s Adviser on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik, who was present at the meeting, had assured the cabinet that the matter would be reviewed and with the availability of alternative options, the Rangers would be shifted from educational institutions under their occupation.

“The situation prevailing in the province including power outages, water scarcity, labour unrest due to increasing unemployment, soaring prices, the transport problem, tribal clashes, tension in educational institutions with the revival of students unions and political rivalries, amidst a shortage of over 10,000 men from the police force’s sanctioned strength may have added to the delay,” a government insider confided to Dawn.

The Sindh police at present has a strength of 87,453 personnel against its sanctioned force of 98,148. The shortage was being met by deployment of the paramilitary Rangers, whose strength in the province is 21,806.

Out of this total, over 14,000 are being used for internal security while about 1,000 are being used for maintenance of peace in educational institutions and over 1,600 for security and protection to oil and gas companies, foreign consulates and diplomats’ residences.

The matter of getting educational institutions and hostels vacated from the possession of the Rangers was raised by students, teachers and civil society even before the induction of the Pakistan People’s Party government in the centre and the province.

In its meeting held on April 1, the Karachi University Teachers Society – through a unanimous resolution – had also demanded that the Rangers vacate all educational institutions.

But so far no progress has been made in this regard. The authorities feel uncomfortable with the very idea of urging the Rangers to vacate the educational institutions and shifting them to peripheral areas of the metropolis.

They consider their presence in the city centre vital for maintenance of law and order in view of the increasing unrest among the people over pressing issues.

According to an official report, about 50 educational institutions and hostel buildings are in the paramilitary force’s use, including 21 alone in Karachi.

Some of the buildings are of historic importance such as the Jinnah Courts in Karachi and Muslim Hostel, Hirabad in Hyderabad.

An official of the home department said it was not possible in the near future to vacate all these buildings until the police force’s strength was made adequate enough to meet the law and order situation.

However, he said it was possible that the Rangers’ strength could be reduced from the educational institutions to make more room available for holding classes and other purposes.