Pakistan: Damning mollycoddling

Is this the way to fight terrorism? For more than once have the top city cops stated that activists of political parties and religious outfits are involved in Karachi's ravaging violence and that the government would be asked to approach those organisations to hand them over. Why? Isn't it the law-enforcers' bounden duty to nab them and put them in the dock? Why their organisations have to be approached and begged? Does the police go to a criminal gang when its thug has to be arrested? Why indeed this damning mollycoddling of political parties and religious outfits? Aren't they accomplices if their activists are involved? And aren't they then equally culpable as are their activists? And hasn't the time come when the ghost of vile charade of a few black sheep must be buried once and for all? Doesn't even a babe know that all manner of political and confessional entities are wholly embroiled in a no-holds-barred war to capture the beleaguered port city and make of it an exclusive preserve? So which joker is it who thinks that when approached the outfits would be quite obliging and part with their murder squads happily? Won't they protect them as have they so far? And isn't it top cops' sheer foolhardiness if they think the government would be all forthcoming and start contacting the outfits to surrender the culprits? After all, the government itself is made of the political cadres who too are in public pillory for patronising the criminal elements. The city cops have thus to come out of their self-serving jiggery-pokery and stand up straight bravely to take on the criminals who have crippled the nation's key city with their vileness and shenanigans. They have to show zero tolerance for criminals and criminality, not in words but with actions and deeds. If in the process they have to tread on some political, ethnic or confessional toes, so be it. The crucial city's peace, tranquility and security is by far critical and in no condition could be subjugated to considerations of any sorts. The outfits have not to be cajoled or begged to give the custody of their gunmen, murderers and brigands. Their killer squads' masterminds, handlers and guides have to be grilled to find out the wanted culprits' whereabouts. And it necessarily has to be a shock-and-awe act. For, surprise and toughness are two elements that essentially make for a security campaign's effectiveness. And that truism was infringed damagingly right from the outset when the ongoing months-long pacification operation was launched in Karachi. For weeks before mounting the campaign, both the political hierarchy and security apparatus kept screaming that they had a list of criminals ready to pounce on. None took a pause to know the blunder this shrill was leading up to. None cared to think that this would alert the criminals and make them to escape into some safe havens. And it is not unimaginable if this was done knowingly, given the undeniable reality that the city police force itself is deeply infested with elements recruited on partisan considerations, be those ethnic, political or confessional. In any case, for this shrill, no sitting ducks were to be found to pounce on and net. And none was found, not any surprisingly. Almost the whole lot had vanished into lairs outside the city. Quite a lot escaped to havens just outside the country. Only foot soldiers, at best, were caught. Their commanders slipped into hideouts at home and abroad. And same is sure going to happen with terrorists and target killers the city cops assert they have now listed. None is going to be a sitting duck, accosting the law-enforcers to come and get him. They all will escape, if they already have not. The city's top cops have to stop fiddling, if they really mean business. They have to get out of the evasive and diversionary tactics like asking the government to intervene and get them their wanted criminals from the political and confessional outfits. Catching criminals is their inviolable duty by every canon of law, not of the ruling political hierarchy, which may even be loath of it for its own vested interests. The cops have to do their job. If they have the leads, they must follow these to reach their wanted criminals. If they don't have the leads, they must put their hounds on the trail to track them down. They may even publicise the wanted criminals' photographs, appealing to the public to help them find out, on the condition of confidentiality, the fugitives' whereabouts. The police top brass has, nevertheless, to do away with the mollycoddling of political or confessional entities. It is this stupidity that has turned this once a heavenly peaceful place now into a living hell of insensate bloodletting and dreadful violence. That foolishness must now stop. It is not mollifying or appeasing these dragons of mayhem that is needed. It is showing them the stern face of the state that is necessarily called for. That face must be shown them now. They must be put on notice to surrender their thugs on the pain of exemplary punishment. With this alone, the top city cops can show they are really worth the uniform they are wearing.