The link between politics and crime

At least 11 police people were martyred and three others injured in a severe attack by bandits in the Kacha area of Rahim Yar Khan on Thursday. The assailants targeted police vehicles with rocket launchers at the Machhka Camp 2, where officers were rotating shifts. The camp had been set up to curb the movement of bandits in the region. Around 25 heavily armed bandits carried out the attack, destroying the police vehicles and killing 11 police people on the spot. Three others sustained injuries. Violence, murder, and abductions take over the riverine areas of upper Sindh and southern Punjab, which are becoming virtually inaccessible to the security apparatus.  Officialdom should review its simplistic approach towards an old banditry hotbed. The Sindh government announced a large-scale operation to stamp out katcha gangs; the plan was to engage tribal chiefs to resolve disputes and if this did not work, launching an operation would take place to eliminate dacoit gangs. Last year the Sindh chief minister claimed ignorance about the source of military-grade ammunition being wielded by the bandits, however, the Awami Tehreek accused riverine outlaws, nurtured by politicians, feudal, and the police, procuring arms on the black market and posing a grave threat. Parts of upper Sindh and southern Punjab, particularly the riverine katcha areas around the Indus, have become a favorite hunting ground of criminal gangs that are no-man’s land, where gangs of bandits are in charge. Kidnapping for ransom has become an industry, people are kept until their families give money. Since the police increased the number of check posts and deployment of personnel, criminal gangs have changed their modus operandi to lure unsuspecting victims with offers of cheap car sales and also using women to lay honey traps to kidnap them for ransom. The riverine region along the River Sindh has virtually become a no-go area infested by robbers equipped with sophisticated weapons, including rocket launchers and speedboats. The police weapons and resources are grossly insufficient to deal with the challenge. Now the criminal elements have come up with an ingenious scheme to ensnare potential victims rather than resort to highway robberies that attract media attention causing public outcry. The use of force alone has not and will not resolve the problem; what gives rise to it needs to be duly addressed. Those familiar with the region say that for most local people there are no other means of earning livelihoods than to join robber gangs. Force alone, sans the larger idea of justice, cannot eradicate a problem created by deprivation. What is tearing these areas apart, is the denial of due rights and services, the most crucial being the right to education. The population in the riverine belt has faced state abandonment for decades. Basic needs like health units, schools, and roads are absent in the region. The ground realities in Sindh and Punjab remain the same and resources allocated for operations face embezzlement. In addition, the traditional relationship between bandits and police is also fraying as bandits kidnap police officers as frequently as they kidnap civilians. People have become immune to aggressive announcements of operations, and the existence of Katcha no-go zones makes a mockery of the rule of law. A comprehensive, multipronged strategy, socioeconomic progress for the youth, compensation for victims, and forces that are fully armed with modern equipment for a combined drive against the lawless elements will be a positive move. It is imperative therefore that the two provincial governments pay special attention to the socio-economic uplift of the people living in that lawless region. Unfortunately, even those tasked with keeping the peace are not safe from the criminals, as the killing of 11 police people illustrates.