PATHETIC
By Gibran Peshimam

[This article first appeared in The News International on January 24, 2010.]

It has already been just under four weeks since the tragic death of over 40 people in a bomb explosion during the Ashura procession in Karachi and the subsequent arson that left the city centre in flames for days. Yet we are no closer to closure than we were on that day. I am not one to moralise about responsibility – or at least I try not to. I am under no illusions about the gulf between how our leaders and authorities are, and should be. But today I will break from this mould. Today I will moralise because there is at least some, minimum, bare minimum, decorum even in the most ethic-starved society. And I saw even that iota disappear in the case of this tragic Ashura. In the initial period after the incidents, a number of probes were launched to quell the shock – as is customary. As expected, nothing has come of these probes, and the investigations have given vague answers at best.

Massive breakdowns of law and order hit Karachi from time to time like the chicly-named tropical storms that hit the southern tip of the US. There is initial shock, but no one accepts responsibility; there are statements and there is politicking for a while. Judicial probes carry on and offer no answers. The day is left to be recalled by a candlelight vigil or two; to become an anniversary for the media to recall every year under headlines of “Questions still remain unanswered.” It pains me but, in my short career, I have come to accept this as a distressing and unfortunate reality. I saw it happen with May 12, with April 9. I saw it happen in those heady days after the murder of Benazir Bhutto – incidentally at which time I was tying the knot. I saw it happen with the xenophobia that gripped the city in late 2008. I saw it with targeted killings – and still do. I see it with the murder of rights activist Nisar Baloch in broad daylight.

Nothing happens in these cases but short-lived hysteria. Just like it probably will for the Ashura explosion and arson. Not a single high authority – not a single one – has taken any sort of responsibility – meaningful or token – in the aftermath of the huge security breakdown, or even in the face of stalled investigations. There has been no rebuke, no questions asked or answered. It is just business as usual. Nothing major happened, as usual. But what did happen was this: On Jan 20, over three weeks after the incident, the Sindh police authorities (more specifically the DIG South) dismissed one SHO (Preedy Station) and an in-charge of a police post (Arambagh Station). In addition to this, seven SHOs have been issued “show cause notices.” Two days later, another SHO (Kharadar) was dismissed.

That’s it.

It is bad enough that none of the high-ups is taking responsibility without targeting lowly actors. Certainly those dismissed deserve it, but to target the underlings in such a big case is an insult to my intelligence. An insult to the intelligence of the people of this city, of this country. There has been no acceptance from the high-ups. No remorse. It is shameful – even for the standards set by our leaders and law-enforcers. But to top it off by targeting a couple of nobodies, who will ultimately probably find their way back into the force, is disgraceful. It sets a new low in terms of skin-saving. The chief minister is reported to by the home minister. The home minister is reported to by the inspector general of police and his additional help, the capital city police officer. The IG and CCPO, the field generals, are reported to by three zonal DIGs. The DIGs are reported to by town-level TPOs. The TPOs are reported to by station house officers. The SHOs are reported to by other lower staff including sub-inspectors, havaldars, et al. Above all of these gentlemen is the country’s security boss, the federal interior minister.

This is the chain of command that controls the law and order as well as the security situation of Sindh – the chain of command found wanting on Dec 28, 2009. Of all these people, they chose to target the lowest tier. Cowardly, that’s what it is. What of Zulfikar Mirza, the security chief of the province, who was not even in the city on the day of the incident? He wasn’t here after, either. He wasn’t even here in the lead-up, even though there were threats of something of this nature happening, given the occasion. He was too busy playing politics to do his job when the people of Karachi needed his leadership most. What of provincial police chief, Salahuddin Babar Khattak, who has been a nonentity for the most part of his tenure, only to actually have his tenure extended days before the Ashura tragedy? Who has been a celebrity cop par excellence? He loves the limelight, but hates the responsibility.

What of city police chief Waseem Ahmed, a man who meticulously oversees arrangements such as shutting down hospitals for patients and their families when the president visits, but apparently left the details of security arrangements for Ashura to the lowest-tier officers? A celebrity cop par-excellence. If you ask me, the IG and CCPO have really fallen to new lows. If they were worth their stripes, they, as police officers, would have resigned before any other action was taken against their lower officers for such a massive security breakdown. But they have chosen to hide behind a few SHOs and a police picket in-charge. And they are supposed to be the protectors. Pathetic!
[Courtesy The News International]

Regards