ISLAMABAD: Expressing concern over rising street crime in Karachi, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said the federal government is ready to deploy paramilitary force, Pakistan Rangers, at all police stations in the city.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Rashid said the situation might have dire consequences. “There appears to be no law in Karachi,” he remarked.

The offer came after Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Parliamentary Leader in the Sindh Assembly Khurram Sher Zaman wrote a letter to the interior minister, urging him to look into the issue of rising street crime in Karachi.

The menace of street crime resurfaced recently after a surge in armed mugging cases that also killed over a dozen people only for resistance. Since January 1, the official data says, 14 people, including a TV journalist Athar Mateen, have so far lost their lives. The data shows in less than two months, over 13,000 cases of street crime were reported in which armed bandits took away cash, cellphones and vehicles from Karachiites at gunpoint.

Rashid advises PTI to contact estranged leader Tareen

With a serious question mark over the performance of the Karachi police, the situation pushed PTI’s Karachi president Khurram Sher Zaman to write to the interior minister seeking his intervention for deployment of Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, at more than 100 police stations of the port city.

However, for Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, the quick and positive response from the federal minister to Mr Zaman’s request went unnoticed. Asked by reporters about his reaction to the Centre’s offer to deploy paramilitary personnel at Karachi police stations, the CM appeared unaware of any such development. “I don’t know whether he [interior minister] has said something like this or not,” he said. “He has neither raised nor discussed this issue with me. We have, however, looking into this challenge. The Safe City project has also made progress and process of reforms in police has also been enhanced.”

Opposition bashing

About the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, the interior minister said it was bound to fail. “It is for you [opposition] to muster support of 172 members. After the abortive move, they will talk of phone calls and Covid-19,” he remarked.

If the opposition were keeping their cards secret, then Mr Khan had also kept his cards close to his chest, said Mr Rashid.

He believed the military establishment understood well what would be the meaning of ‘chaos in the country’ and this was the reason they had said that they stood by the elected government. He was of the opinion that the opposition would not march towards Islamabad on March 23.

Mr Rashid said Mr Khan had been in power for past three and a half years, and since day one the opposition wanted to remove him, but all their efforts had remained unsuccessful.

He then announced that Section 144 of criminal procedure code was being imposed in Islamabad, not to bar gathering of more than five persons, but to bound property owners to submit data of their tenants to police before renting out properties.

PM to decide about engaging Tareen

Answering a question, the minister advised the PTI in general and Mr Khan in particular to engage the estranged party leader Jahangir Khan Tareen in the wake of efforts of the joint opposition to bring a no-confidence motion against the premier.

“There is no harm in talking to Tareen if PTI is talking to others,” he said.

He then told the media that he had not met Mr Tareen for past six years, but believed the PTI leader was a politician and would show responsibility. He said if the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz could reach out to the Chaudhries after a gap of 14 years, Mr Khan and Mr Tareen were old associates. “Differences between friends do not mean severing of ties,” the minister remarked.

PM Khan was to make the final decision, he said, while expressing the hope that no one within the PTI would be annoyed with him over the idea. However, “if anyone from PTI takes advice from me, I will suggest that they should talk with Mr Tareen,” he added. His remarks came after the reports that PML-N president met Mr Tareen in Lahore to seek his help in making the no-trust move successful.

The interior minister said the opposition’s recent meetings with PTI allies would prove futile. He said the opposition would be politically trapped if it brought a no-confidence motion. “PM would emerge victorious in this political scuffle,” he said and cautioned the opposition that its mistakes could cause some major political disaster for which it would be solely responsible.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2022