AN all-time low level of grovelling has been set as PPP leaders try to control the damage from the fallout of Asif Ali Zardari’s burst of bravado. It is quite amusing to listen to party spokespersons reinterpret their leader’s speech. It was all about former dictators and the party has the greatest regard for the current military leadership, we are told. The Sindh chief minister promptly approves a long-pending request by the army to grant it 9,000 acres of forestland for the families of fallen soldiers.

Yet, all this backtracking and appeasement do not seem to be working. The reported travel ban on some provincial ministers and lawmakers indicates that it is now the Rangers who are effectively in charge with powers fast slipping away from the elected civilian administration.

It is apparent that Mr Zardari’s confrontationist outburst has hardened the military’s position on broadening the Karachi operation. And the damage control efforts appear to have only exposed the vulnerability of the PPP leadership. It was not just miscalculation on the part of the crafty former president, but also a sign of desperation to get out of a tight spot. Instead it has had the opposite effect.

For sure, the current stand-off in Sindh is more than just the issue of civil-military relations as PPP leaders and some liberal commentators tend to depict. It is mainly a question of an elected civilian administration losing its moral legitimacy with the allegation of rampant corruption and ineptitude resulting in virtual collapse of the governance. It was only logical that the Rangers, or to be more precise the army, would act to assert itself. It is taking advantage of the prevalent disarray thus creating a parallel authority structure.

The current stand-off in Sindh is more than just the issue of worsening civil-military relations.

It is, indeed, a matter of serious concern to see the army back in the saddle, and there must not be any illusions about it fixing the situation with a magic wand. It may also be true that this creeping assertion of the military presents a serious challenge to a nascent democratic political process in the country. Surely, the army’s involvement is a greater source of instability in the long term.

But who is responsible for this situation? Is it not true that it was the PPP government that had called out the Rangers several years ago as the law and order situation got out of control? The Rangers have been carrying out operations in Karachi for the past several years, much before the formation of the apex committee to oversee the counterterrorism action plan.

How can one forget the solemn defence by the PPP leaders and the Sindh government of the Rangers’ raid on Nine Zero, the MQM headquarters, and the alleged extrajudicial killings of its activists? The law is equal for all, was the oft-repeated mantra. But all hell broke loose when the long arm of the Rangers reached those close to the party high-ups.

Why has the argument about the Rangers transgressing their mandate come up now? It was for the provincial government to define the parameters of its jurisdiction from the very outset. But there was a reason for a beleaguered administration, unable to deal with the worsening law and order situation in the city, not to do so. An inept administration had completely relied on the federal law-enforcement agency for years to contain the growing violence.

While the formation of the apex committee early this year further strengthened the role of the Rangers, it also led to tense civil and military relations over the paradigm of the operation. The PPP leadership was alarmed by the growing mention of land scams, smuggling and extortion being the major source of violence and funding for militants belonging to various political parties involved in a turf war in the mega city.

The illegal allotments of state land had become a major scandal over the years and were allegedly traced to the senior leadership of the party and their cronies. Hence the uncharacteristically aggressive reaction of the former president over the arrests of top officials of the Sindh Building Control Authority and the Fishermen Cooperative Society did not come as a surprise. His deep interest in land and the construction business is no secret.

The rules were allegedly bent to benefit influential construction tycoons. Though many of the allegations made by Zulfiqar Mirza against his old buddy may be exaggerated, those familiar with the investigation maintain they do not seem completely baseless either, especially when cronies turn into billionaires flashing their new wealth.

Thus the former president’s flare-up resonates with a clear message: don’t touch me or I will bring down the whole system. There is certainly no love lost for democracy; it is the business interests at stake. That became very evident by the hasty back-off, hours after throwing down the gauntlet. It surely seemed more about personal financial interests than civil and military relationships.

It is certainly not the job of the Rangers or the army to conduct investigations of those corruption charges, but this must not become a convenient argument to protect those reportedly involved in financial wrongdoings. There is a complete breakdown of law enforcement in a province providing impunity to corrupt officials who enjoy the government’s patronage.

What is most alarming is the report about the money earned through land grabbing, smuggling and extortion going towards financing the militant wings of political parties and terrorism in Karachi. So the action against financial crime cannot be separated from the fight against terrorism and violence.

It is quite ironical that democracy has become a cover for misdeeds and corruption of the ruling elite. The real threat to democracy does not come as much from the action taken by the Rangers as from the patronage of the PPP government to corrupt officials. It is the hour of reckoning for the PPP.

The writer is an author and journalist.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play