That one passing remark, and that too not very specific, by the DG Rangers about an unnamed political party involved in terror-financing should draw Asif Ali Zardari's stiff rebuke is something that looks so surreal. The Rangers' statement did not name the PPP; if at all it did allude to anybody it was the MQM and some leaders and workers of the PPP. This was no big deal - such oblique hints and indirect references are part of our political parlance, rarely making to the front pages of newspapers. Why then PPP co-chairman should have exploded branding the generals of being chips of the same block; there is definitely something more than what meets the eye. However, what followed on the day after is quite clear and very disturbing. Not only has the PPP as a political party decided to stand by its co-chairman's outburst against the army high command, its government in Sindh has also questioned the very legality and of the Rangers operation in Karachi, which of late has begun showing encouraging results. Strangely enough, even when a section of the PPP caucus is trying to lower tensions the party chief seems to be preparing for a confrontation with the Rangers. And, to no one's surprise, in the emerging scenario the DG Rangers' action has received full backing of the Karachi Corps Commander means the army high command. In a way, battle lines have been drawn. Look and behold! The first to come to the aid of Asif Ali Zardari is no one but the MQM, which was on a shutter-down strike early this week as a protest against the provincial budget presented by the PPP government in Sindh. Their parties may nurture clashing worldviews but there is something common between Asif Ali Zardari and Altaf Hussain and that is a common perception of a threat from the establishment.
Will the rising tempo of tensions between the Sindh government and the Rangers lead to imposition of Governor's Rule in Sindh? It is not expected given that all powers the paramilitary force needs to combat and control forces of criminality, corruption, and extremism are already with it. On the other hand, it may well be the Sindh government's hidden desire to be sent home, bearing the tag of martyrdom in the so-called battle for democracy. But that said the imperative of securing social and political harmony in the city of Karachi cannot be relegated to all alternate options. A Karachi controlled and run by the Rangers is in nobody's interest. Given the prevalent sensitivity of political parties about the Rangers' targeted operation it is important that the kind of ambiguity about the outcome of actions and raids conducted by the paramilitary force is dispensed with. Crime being essentially person-specific it is necessary that if someone is arrested or killed in action he should be identified by his name. Certain individuals and leaders of a political outfit may be accused of indulging in some act of violence, deceit, or corruption, but to bracket them with his party is neither fair nor just. But, perhaps unwittingly, the statement made public by the DG Rangers about the apex committee meeting on June 4 tends to be subjective when it links up the criminals with their so-called political masters. The backing provided to a criminal by party leadership, if suspected, should be established on the basis of provable evidence. Not that there is no such thing as political patronage of criminal gangs and land-grabbing mafias, it is very much there in Karachi and rest of the country. But in the eyes of law, everybody is innocent unless proved guilty by the court of law. It's time to control passions and to give time to reason and logic to prevail. At this juncture Pakistan cannot afford to throw up signs of national disunity and disharmony.
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