Reacting fast to the ANP-backed Senate resolution calling for the deweaponisation of Karachi to eliminate bloodshed in the city, the MQM tabled another resolution in the National Assembly on Tuesday that envisaged a countrywide deweaponisation, arguing that without a comprehensive ban the goal could not be achieved in the real sense of the word. The resolution was passed, with the PML-N, ANP and JUI-F opposing. The years-long violence in Karachi showing no signs of abating; the heavy toll of about 6,000 it has so far taken of the city’s inhabitants; the use of highly sophisticated weapons by the bands of fiendish-minded killers who seem to be on the loose round the clock; the sectarian element that at times raises its head; the authorities’ failure to put an end to the chaos; and the climate of insecurity the scenario has created – all this had prompted some lawmakers to assume that a Karachi shorn of its arms was the only way to bring the city back from the brink of precipice. And with the general elections not far away, there is a nationwide concern over the possibility of eruption of violence on an unprecedented scale in Karachi at the time of polls. But then the question first of all is whether a sprawling port city, with the daily docking of numerous vessels on its shores; having a population variously estimated between 18 million and 21 million, awash with heavy weapons; and the umpteen routes linking it with the hinterland, is it possible to enforce the Senate resolution to deweaponise it? And for that matter, is it possible to eliminate weapons from a country that has become a veritable arsenal? Both the questions are too mindboggling to answer in the positive, at least.
Opposing the MQM’s resolution, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman called it “deceptive”, blaming the law enforcement agencies for their failure to provide security and arguing for the need of ordinary citizens to keep arms for their safety. PPP’s Religious Affairs Minister Khurshid Shah supported the resolution on the ground that that would make it possible to come to grips with the problem.
The whole thing boils down to sincerity of effort; if that is in action, controlling the situation by the government, with all the resources of the state at its disposal, would be no issue; if not, as has been the case so far, even the most workable scheme would not bear fruit. The situation has come to such a pass that leaders of all the three major parties in the Sindh coalition have to sit down and find a solution, beginning with the disbanding of their militant wings.