KARACHI, Oct 4: With the Rangers-led ‘Karachi operation’ entering the second month on Saturday, the law-enforcement agencies prepared themselves for more vigorous action following the arrest of over 800 suspects — most of them said to be associated with political parties — by the paramilitary force during the much publicised campaign against militancy, targeted killings, extortion and kidnapping for ransom.

Amid criticism from certain quarters, senior officials from the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, and the Karachi police said they were determined to move fast after one month to achieve certain targets that they hoped would ensure a long-awaited sustainable peace in the metropolis.

“In a month, the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, conducted 303 raids,” said Brigadier Mohammad Rafiq Khan, the deputy director general of Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, while speaking to Dawn.

The figure indicates that more than 10 raids had been conducted in the city on a daily basis during the past one month.

“A total of 827 suspects have been arrested in Rangers’ raids that helped in seizure of 556 illegal weapons of various kinds from different parts of the city.”

Referring to the four major areas — militancy, targeted killing, extortion and kidnapping for ransom — being focused by the Rangers in Karachi, the brigadier said more than 300 raids made so far were in line with the mandate given to the paramilitary force. When asked about the authenticity of the impression that a majority of the suspects being arrested were associated with political parties one way or the other, he replied: “This is absolutely correct… our core objective is to restore peace to Karachi. We are making all moves in line with our job and you’ll see a sharp increase in these moves with much faster pace in the days to come.”

Launched on Sept 5 after the federal government empowered the Rangers to lead a targeted operation with the support of police against criminals in the city, the operation has drawn a strong reaction from certain quarters but is largely welcomed by different segments of society.The decision to pick the Rangers for the lead role in restoring peace to the city was taken at a special session of the federal cabinet after extensive consultation by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with all stakeholders, including Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, leaders of major political parties, representatives of the business community and the media during his two-day stay in Karachi last month.

The Karachi police also emerged active during the past one month and the newly-appointed chief of the law-enforcement agency claiming ‘a free hand’ sounded confident of achieving the targets.

“We are determined to restore peace,” said additional IG Shahid Hayat Khan in a brief response. “This is our primary job and we are making all-out efforts for that only objective. We have the authority and set rules to take action and one can gauge the performance through the figures of last month.”

But all is not well mainly for the party enjoying the largest mandate of Karachi, as Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) workers are also said to be among the suspects recently picked up by the law-enforcement agencies.

The party, which sees frequent raids on its offices during the operation and has reacted strongly at least twice during the past one month, believes that its workers are being targeted.

“We don’t see any decline in the city’s crime trend,” said MQM deputy parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan. “The killings go on, as do the cracker and hand grenade attacks. We were the ones who demanded an army operation but unfortunately it appears that direction of the operation has been changed on political grounds and there is a serious resentment among the people of Karachi against this trend.”

Similar, concerns were shared by leaders of the Awami National Party (ANP) — another political stakeholder whose offices have come under raids of the law-enforcement agencies and whose workers have been picked up even on murder charges —but the party doesn’t want that ‘Karachi operation’ to be stopped.

“If you rely on facts, we are among the victims of the operation and not its beneficiary,” said Sindh Awami National Party (ANP) general secretary Bashir Jan. “The killing of our workers continues and our strongholds are under the same threat that they had been before the operation was launched. The misery doesn’t end here as our workers are being picked up by the law-enforcement agencies. Yet we want this operation to continue and it should be expanded and made more effective,” he said.