ON the day the head of the military’s media wing was in Karachi to discuss progress on the city’s law and order situation, three small explosions were reported from different parts of the metropolis.

A police station, college and school were among the targets attacked, though fortunately, there were no fatalities reported.

So DG ISPR Asim Bajwa was not off the mark when he observed that more work needed to be done to rid Karachi of terrorism and violence.

Lt-Gen Bajwa quoted a number of figures in his briefing, stating that since the commencement of the law-enforcement operation in Karachi in September 2013, there have been over 12,000 arrests.

Indeed, violent crime and militancy in the metropolis have come down in this period — a fact most independent observers will confirm. With the exception of last year’s Safoora Goth carnage, there have been no major terrorist attacks in Karachi over the past few years, and crimes such as targeted killings, extortion and kidnappings have also come down.

But as Friday’s attacks have shown, the mission is not yet accomplished. Militants very much appear to be active under the radar.

For instance, over the past few weeks Rangers’ check posts have been attacked, while earlier this month two schools in the Gulshan area were targeted with ‘crackers’. The modus operandi in most of these incidents — explosives lobbed by motorcycle-borne assailants — has been similar.

Karachi’s vastness and its seemingly unending urban sprawl provide an ideal environment for militants of all hues to melt away into anonymity, and then strike at an opportune moment.

In order to further reduce the space for militants in the city, it is essential for law enforcers to conduct intelligence-led operations to uncover extremists and their sympathisers.

Also read: More work left to be done in Karachi operation: DG ISPR

For this, along with the Rangers, the civilian intelligence apparatus, especially outfits such as the police’s special branch, must be increasingly deployed as it is these units that have an ear to the ground, especially to gauge the situation in neighbourhoods.

Moreover, considering the fact that several educational institutions in the city have been targeted, the police as well as the schools’ administrations must speed up efforts to implement the ‘safe schools’ project’.

As police officials have stated, over 100 of the city’s some 5,000 schools have been declared ‘sensitive’. Hence the state must make every effort — in an unobtrusive and sensitive way — to protect youngsters from violence.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2016