SEVERAL incidents in Karachi over the past few years have illustrated that the paramilitary Rangers are ill-equipped for the demands of urban law enforcement. On Friday, personnel of the force reportedly shot and killed a man in the North Karachi area while wounding his wife. Police say the couple were having a fight on the street when the Rangers intervened as they thought it was a kidnapping attempt. It must be investigated why the paramilitary force resorted to using such lethal force when the victim could have been subdued by non-lethal methods. There have been other incidents of this nature involving Rangers’ personnel. Last year, members of the force shot dead a taxi driver as well as a motorist in separate incidents when the victims failed to stop at the Rangers’ insistence. But the most high-profile killing involving the force was the Sarfraz Shah case in 2011; the unarmed youth was shot in a Karachi park by a Rangers trooper and a huge public outcry was sparked after television channels ran footage of the bloody incident.

Karachi is indeed a violent city and law enforcers, including the Rangers, have come under attack on numerous occasions. However, such overreaction by the force is unacceptable. This is not to say the Rangers are trigger-happy; rather, they are not trained to carry out the tasks of urban policing, such as resolving domestic disputes, directing traffic or chasing petty criminals. That is the police’s job. The police, for all their drawbacks, are in a much better position to handle such incidents as police personnel have a better idea about local neighbourhoods and the situation on the ground. That is why whether they are patrolling or carrying out raids, the police must jointly conduct such operations with the Rangers to prevent potential excesses. And whether it is the police or the Rangers, all law-enforcement agencies must be trained in using non-lethal methods of subduing suspects instead of instantly pulling the trigger.