Karachi residents complain of abuse
as police crack down on crime
When youngsters in a poor neighbourhood in Karachi, Pakistan's southern port city, see a police car coming down the bumpy mud road, they dash away and hide in the district's narrow, labyrinthine passages.
Some shout abuse at the policemen as they disappear in the streets of Gharibabad precinct.
"All of us run when we see the police... They are corrupt and hostile towards us," said Mohammed Naeem, a 22-year-old labourer.
"They say we are terrorists and take us to the police station where we are abused, beaten, and released only after our relatives pay them bribes."
Police say crime in this violence-plagued port city has dropped since the government launched a crackdown on the Muttahida Quami Movement. But human rights groups say the action violates Pakistan's Constitution and undermines the judiciary.
Gharibabad, like most low-income localities in Karachi, is a stronghold of the MQM, the party that represents the Urdu-speaking Muslims who migrated from the rest of India to Pakistan when British rule ended in 1947.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief's government blames the MQM for much of the bloodletting in the restive city of 14 million people. The party is locked in a bloody feud with a breakaway faction and hundreds of people have died in tit-for-tat killings by militants in the two groups.
The government launched the crackdown to quell violence in Karachi after it dismissed the provincial government of Sind on October 30. It suspended civil rights and set up military courts to try those "responsible for terrorism".
Last month, police surrounded the neighbourhood to arrest alleged terrorists and a bloody gun battle between the police and militants raged for 14 hours.
Several days later, authorities bulldozed some 300 houses, saying they were "infested with terrorists and criminals".
Opposition parties and human rights groups say the moves weren't necessary.
"This is all part of the government's campaign to eliminate the party," said Kanwar Khalid Younus, an MQM lawmaker in Parliament. "We are being targeted because our leaders belong to the lower-middle class and speak for the poor. We don't indulge in violence."
But police say crime has declined by almost 60 per cent since the start of the operation.
"Compared to 65 deaths by terrorism in October when we started the operation, there were only 10 in November," Karachi Police Commissioner Farooq Ameen Quereshi said.
In December, police said, there were 16 terrorism-related deaths -- well below the monthly average of 46 in the first 11 months of the year.
"The MQM terrorists used to hold entire areas hostage. They kill and torture people, extort money and even rape women," Quereshi said. "The residents support us when we arrest terrorists."
But in several neighbourhoods, people complain that corrupt policemen take money and valuables during house-to-house searches and often arrest innocent people.
"They are not policemen, but robbers," said 60-year-old Rasheeda Begum. "They came to search our houses for weapons, but took away Rs500 ($10) and silver jewellery. They slapped and kicked my two sons and abused me and my daughter-in-law when we protested."
Jamil Yousuf, chief of the citizen police liaison committee, says the police are dealing with an abnormal situation.
"During raids and house search operations, people do feel the pinch. But extreme situations demand extreme steps," he said. "We don't rule out the possibility of high-handed actions and corruption. But we have formed committees to redress such complaints. Now the number of complaints is coming down."
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says there have been three deaths in police custody since the operation began.
"We have reports of torture and illegal detentions," said Zohara Yousuf, HRCP secretary-general. "But compared to the past, this time there is a greater check and accountability on the police and complaints are fewer."
"There is lot of corruption in the police force and it doesn't enjoy the confidence of the people," she admitted. "There hasn't been a change in their attitude."
AP
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