KARACHI CHRONICLE: City needs local government

On the Tuesday that the MQM had called a shutdown of business in Karachi, a senior colleague rang me at home to ask if it was safe for him to drive down for his groceries and for lunch at the Karachi Press Club. His question reflected the state of mind of most Karachiites, because no matter how peaceful a strike, shutdown or wheeljam may be there are cases of sniper shooting, arson and looting.
The fear of becoming an innocent victim of the prevailing state of rage and terrorism and murder that is rife in Karachi has made the people wary and distrustful of all assurances that a strike, shutdown or wheeljam will be peaceful. It has also made us blind to the reality. It is futile to ask if it is safe to drive or walk out only on days of strikes, shutdowns and wheeljams. The reality is that Karachi is never safe for the ordinary citizen. Any time, any day, and anywhere in
the city, even on the so-called normal days, Karachi is not safe. The free-for-all murder and mayhem is beyond control of Sindh government which has been accused of being a party to the chaos which has created a virtual state of anarchy in the city. The police and Rangers have also failed to bring back normalcy. So now there is a demand to bring in the big guns, the army itself.
This demand is also a state of denial. The people have forgotten the past all the way to 1958 and the first Martial Law and the role of the men in uniform coercing and persecuting civilians, supporting militants and troublemaking so-called political parties and unleashing a reign of terror. The army is no panacea for what ails Karachi. At the back of their minds citizens are aware of the consequences of calling in the army, but the demand also reflects the desperation of the people to somehow end the present spate of horror.
Even people who till yesterday were demanding that Musharraf as president should step out of uniform, and were shouting "Go Musharraf Go!" think the army will be able to bring back peace to the city. Hot debates rage in all circles, whether it is just a gathering at an iftar party, or the meeting of intellectuals, NGOs, journalists, businessmen teachers or doctors on the issue of calling in the army. In short, even rational thinkers want the army to step in. When these rational people are reminded about the army's track record in meddling in civilian affairs, they tend to rationalise their demand thus: Let the army clean up the mess, then we will throw it out. No matter how difficult it is to eradicate the army once it is in, we have done it in the past and will be able to do it again. But just let them calm things down so we can get back to business.
Yes, of course we will be able to get rid of the army later, but the question is, how long will it take? On average it takes ten years. Ten long years when civil institutions slid back into oblivion, when political will becomes a mere emotion and the city is poorer in land and assets taken over by the army. Think about the seafront development projects in Musharraf's time that denied the right to fisherfolk to use two islands. Think of the sale for song of the KESC and the Steel Mills. We are desperate for an end to Karachi's current problems, but are we this desperate that we are willing to allow the sale of family silver and the rights of the poor, voiceless, struggling masses?
So far the army has kept a low profile about civilian government's mishandling of law and order in Karachi and elsewhere. Even in the recent meeting of commanders, the army assured it would not interfere. But the Sunday statement of Prime Minister Gilani that the army can be called in Karachi only at the request of the provincial government, as well as his reference to a recent statement of Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani who expressed concern over the Karachi situation and said that the army was waiting for a signal from the government to help the administration, cannot be taken lightly. It means the army is already waiting in the wings.
This talk of coming to the aid of civilian administration is to be taken with a large pinch of salt. Once the army is in, it dictates its own terms. Senior citizens will recall that a civil government had called in Ayub Khan in 1958. The rest is sad history of army rule ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
There is no viable solution to the present ills except one. Immediately call local bodies polls. Karachi was relatively at peace until the last general elections brought in the PPP-led coalition government in Sindh. Among the first statements made by PPP ministers was that the local bodies system should be scrapped. From that day trouble began in Karachi. The same old murders, targeted killings arson, looting and riots, that used to be the way of life in the city in the 1980s. Gradually, such problems escalated and have come to this virtual state of anarchy.
The local bodies system may not have worked well in other parts of the province, but it worked miracles in Karachi. It proved the people of Karachi are able to fend for themselves. They can do it again. If the army has to be called in, let it be called in as a patron of the CDGK.