Death of the Law

Experts attribute recent lynching in Karachi to unregulated migrations, corruption and weak law enforcement

KARACHI: The gruesome killing of two telecom workers by an angry mob in Karachi’s slum area of Machhar Colony on 28 October has triggered widespread protests by civil society groups and political parties across Sindh province.

Sindh High Court has taken notice of the shocking incident, and so has the leadership of the provincial ruling party, the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP). More than 50 suspects involved in the lynching have been arrested by the police.

Meanwhile, Sindhi nationalists have raised the issue of illegal immigrants, mainly from Burma and Bungladesh who constitute the dominant segment of Machhar Colony’s population and were involved in the lynching incident.

According to police and other sources, a telecom engineer, Aiman Javed, and his driver, Ishaq Panhwar, were in the area to check and fix the antenna of a mobile phone tower. Both were Sindhis; Aiman Jawed was an Urdu speaking Sindhi from Thatta, while Ishaq Panhwar was a native of Naushero Feroz.

The incident took place when the two were preparing to detect the fault in the tower. While the engineer was repeatedly going around the tower, trying to track frequency of signals on his mobile phone, some female onlookers got suspicious and soon there were rumours that they may be child lifters. A mob surrounded them and they were beaten to death with stones and sharp objects. Their vehicle was also set on fire.

A police team that was escorting a team of anti-polio vaccinators in the area rushed to the scene after hearing roars of the crowd, but could not save the victims against what they called an angry mob of over 400 men.

Condemning the incident, both Foreign Minister and PPP chairman, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in separate statements assured that the killers would be arrested and brought to justice soon.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi also condemned the incident in their respective statements. They demanded an inquiry to identify the killers and bring them to justice. They also raised concerns over the performance of the Karachi police, and flaws in the country’s criminal justice system.

Sindhi nationalist groups, that have long been upset with large population movements into their province from other regions of the country as well as from the wider South Asian region, see this incident as an example of the lawlessness such unregulated migrations have brought to their homeland, with negative consequences for the native populations.

Leader of his own faction of the Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM-R) party, Riaz Chandio, told Bol News that Sindh had been a destination for not just foreign migrants such as the Burmese, Bengalis and the Afghans, but also for the Pakistani people from southern Punjab and elsewhere.

“These people are not only a burden on our national economy, but they are also becoming a burden on our (Sindhis’) lives now,” he said. “They must be repatriated to their countries and areas immediately so as to put an end to the unrest in the country’s commercial capital (Karachi).”

He called for a judicial enquiry, saying that he did not trust the police as they were “involved in allowing illegal residents to continue to live in Karachi in return for bribes.” This, he said, was the reason why Sindhis were killed in Sindh while such gory incidents never took place against natives in Punjab, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or elsewhere in the country.

Syed Zain Shah, the president of Sindh United Party (SUP), offered similar views. He said Machhar Colony had long become a no-go area – a den of drug dealers and criminals. But instead of cracking down on them, the authorities were involved in issuing Pakistani national identification cards (CNICs) to those illegal residents.

“The video clip of the incident which was shared on social media clearly shows the attackers, who must be traced, put behind bars and awarded capital punishment in a quick trial so as to set a good precedent,” he said. “Both the federal and the provincial government are directly responsible for the security of citizens, and must conduct a grand operation forthwith to round up and expel illegal immigrants.”

Senior lawyer, rights activists and a former president of Awami Tehreek (AT) party, Sajjad Ahmad Chandio, offered a wider context of what had happened in Machhar Colony. Since Pakistan lagged behind in law enforcement, “people have little trust in its law enforcement agencies, and that is why they often resort to vigilante justice on roads and streets”, he said, recalling that similar incidents had happened in Sialkot, Peshawar and some other places in the recent past.

Strict punishments to the perpetrators of such offences may prevent their recurrence, but they often get away unharmed due to weak prosecution, Mr Chandio said. He recalled a Supreme Court ruling issued in 2011 regarding lawlessness in Karachi. The court had then ordered that all illegal immigrants should be expelled, crime be brought under control and all no-go areas in the metropolis, such as Machhar Colony, be cleansed. But it was never implemented.

Scholar and convener of Pakistan Democratic Forum (PDF), Abrar Kazi, when approached for comments, said that Karachi as well as the entire Sindh province had suffered tensions due to mass migrations. It took the Sindhi natives and the Urdu speaking migrants from India a long time to develop tolerance and mutual acceptance, but new waves of migrants have since been hitting the region, creating chaos, he said.

“The flow of these [illegal immigrants] must be controlled through promulgating and enforcing laws such as banning their right to purchase properties, enjoy political rights, etc. Their repatriation may be a good solution, but it’s a very complicated process,” he said.

Deputy Inspector-General of police for Karachi South, Irfan Baloch, admitted that Machhar Colony remained a no-go area for a long time. He said police were reluctant to enter Machhar Colony until some years ago. It was mainly because the local criminal elements had developed a culture of pouncing on any outsider who had entered the area with a view to frighten them. But it’s not that bad any more. “After targeted operations conducted recently, things have improved to a great extent,” he said.