Criminalisation of politics

POLITICS and crime form almost a symbiotic relationship. Both are driven by the same impulse — the acquisition of money and power. Politics needs money to buy influence and crime needs the protection of politics to run its enterprises. This fusion can’t be more glaring than what is being witnessed in our land of the pure.

Yet nothing could be more shocking than the alleged nexus of crime and politics in the case of Baldia Town factory inferno that claimed more than 250 lives. If true, the report by a Joint Investigation Team provides an insight into the increasing criminalisation of politics in the country as a whole and Karachi in particular. The revelation about a political party being linked to the factory fire is just the tip of the iceberg.

For sure, there is an urgent need for investigation into the allegation that activists of the MQM set the factory on fire after the owners failed to pay extortion money. The report is largely based on the testimony of one party activist, raising some valid questions about its authenticity. Nevertheless the revelation is extremely damning even for a party that has faced countless criminal charges ranging from murder to extortion in the past.

One can endlessly argue about the veracity of the JIT report and look for a motive behind its much-delayed release, but it is too serious a charge to be ignored. It is quite intriguing why the report was put in the closet for almost two years and no action was taken to bring to justice those responsible for the mass murder of over 250 men and women. There is no example of this kind of horror even in a city that has been turned into lawless territory with the rising criminalisation of politics.

The recent revelation is even more shocking given that an earlier finding by a judicial commission appointed by the Sindh provincial government blamed an electrical short-circuit for the fire. If the JIT report, and not the one given by the commission is true, then who in the government is responsible for criminal negligence? To calm down the outraged public, the government arrested the factory owners and sent the case to an anti-terrorism court.

But the owners were soon out on the bail after paying Rs150 million to a senior leader of the MQM, alleges to the JIT report. This information was gleaned by investigators during the interrogation of Rizwan Qureshi, an MQM activist. According to Qureshi, a front man of a party high official took the money from the factory owners for disposal of the case. The MQM has denied the allegation saying the statement was obtained under duress.

Why did it take years for all these details to come out? There are only two possibilities: either there has been a blatant cover-up or the investigation by the JIT is doubtful. There is certainly something missing here. The report raises more questions than it answers. The dots must be squared in order to bring the culprits to justice, however powerful they may be.

Predictably, the MQM leaders have dismissed the JIT report as a conspiracy of the establishment to undermine the party. The MQM supremo has threatened dire consequences if what he described as malicious propaganda against his party is not stopped. Such a tirade against political opponents demanding action on the report is not becoming of a political leader. He has not even spared media persons in his long telephonic addresses for highlighting the report. While berating the establishment, he apparently did not recall that only last week he called for the imposition of martial law in the country.

Many times in the past too the MQM has been accused for all sorts of crimes ranging from murder to extortion, but the charges have mostly fallen through during trial. It remains to be seen whether the allegations of the party’s links with the Baldia Town tragedy can be substantiated. The MQM has already disassociated itself from many characters mentioned in the JIT report. The onus is on the party to clear itself of all the charges implicit in the JIT report.

It is also true that other political parties have criminals in their ranks, but on this score, perhaps the MQM has had the worst reputation. Other political parties are equally responsible for the breakdown of law and order situation in the city and for turning the country’s economic jugular into one of the most dangerous cities in the world. The new emerging power blocs vying for control of the city have given further impetus to criminalisation of politics.

It is despicable the way the JIT report is being used to settle political scores. Rather than calling for a thorough investigation into the allegations the entire issue has been turned into political gamesmanship. We have often seen in the past how serious crimes directly involving political parties and their supporters have been hushed up for reasons of political expediency. This is being repeated yet again.

It has exposed the hypocrisy of the PPP too. While endorsing the JIT report, the PPP leadership was also negotiating a deal with the MQM for the Senate elections. It is not surprising that the MQM, evidently to protect itself, is now back in the Sindh provincial government after months of a hostile relationship with the PPP.

It is not only Karachi where crime and politics publicly fuse; the situation is not significantly different in other parts of the country either. Pakistan is fast turning into a country where the state is so weak that it is unable to fulfil even its minimum responsibility, exercise authority and offer citizens a modicum of security and order. The powerful nexus of crime and politics has little to fear. The case of the Baldia Town factory inferno is a glaring example of the ineffectiveness of the state in the face of the growing criminalisation of politics. It seems highly unlikely that the JIT report will be taken to its logical conclusion.

The writer is an author and journalist.

zhussain100@yahoo.com

Twitter: @hidhussain

Published in Dawn February 11th , 2015