THE raid on Afghan Basti in Karachi on Tuesday epitomises everything that is wrong with law enforcement in the city. After days of violence left dozens dead and scores injured and the law-enforcement agencies looking increasingly impotent, a raid was conducted on the basti by several hundred police and Rangers personnel as a show of strength by the government and to give the impression that it was acting to bring the situation under control. Granted the 24 individuals they picked up may well turn out to be criminals, and some may even be found to be involved in the events of the past few days, but the law-enforcement agencies surely went about their task in the most wrong-headed way. News channels flashed images all day of uniformed officers breaking down doors, grabbing hold of men and then herding them into official vehicles, all the while slapping, punching and generally mistreating the men they were detaining.

It is true that in law-enforcement operations officers must be ready to use a heavy hand when needed, especially if those detained are putting up resistance, but from Tuesday`s disturbing images it is not clear at all if that was the case. Under the law, all detained persons have rights. The mistreatment of detained persons in the full glare of the cameras by officials showed the impunity with which those rights are violated. And it left one wondering what will happen to them away from the cameras. As a frightened, worried city tries to recover from the latest bout of ethnic violence, the plight of a couple of dozen poor, unknown detained persons may not appear as the highest priority. But that impulse is highly misleading. The city can only return to normality once the law-enforcement agencies appear to be even-handed and impartial in the enforcement of the law. The sight of men from just one neighbourhood belonging to one ethnic community being targeted by the authorities at a time when many areas have witnessed trouble and other ethnicities are also believed to have perpetrated the violence can only inflame ethnic tensions. So not only was the manner in which Tuesday`s raid was conducted distasteful, it is likely to be counterproductive. All denizens of Karachi deserve better from their law-enforcement agencies. Using them as a blunt instrument for political purposes has damaged not only the city but the agencies themselves. But that is a realisation that only appears to occur to our politicians when in opposition.