KARACHI: Though there has been significant reduction in the number of terrorism incidents in Karachi during 2019, the city has witnessed some horrific incidents in the outgoing year.

The attack on prominent religious scholar Muhammad Taqi Usmani at the NIPA roundabout, murder of a doctor in a suspected sectarian attack in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, a bomb attack in Quaidabad and kidnapping of two girls in Defence Housing Authority are considered some of the worrying developments in the city in 2019.

It is also worrying that elements involved in almost all of these organised crimes have not been brought to justice so far, raising question marks over the performance of the city’s law enforcement agencies.

On March 22, Mufti Usmani and members of his family survived an attack when several gunmen on motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire on their two cars. Mufti Usmani’s police guard and two aides were killed in the attack.

A senior police officer who wished not to be named said that presumably there was a ‘foreign factor’ behind the attack. He, however, admitted that no concrete evidence emerged to this effect. The case was transferred to the police’s counter-terrorism department which had got ‘some clues’ and were working on it. But so far no one has been arrested in the case.

Among prominent incidents in outgoing year are attack on Mufti Taqi Usmani and kidnapping of girls in DHA

The former chief of Karachi police, Dr Amir Ahmed Shaikh, had stated that the motive appeared to be bigger than sectarianism or terrorism as Mufti Usmani was a ‘towering personality’ who commanded respect across the country and the attackers wanted to create chaos in Karachi and the country as well.

Mufti Usmani is a very famous and widely respected religious scholar not only in Pakistan, but also in many other countries. In his new book Islam in Pakistan: a history, Princeton University professor Muhammad Qasim Zaman writes that Mufti Usmani is considered among “the most prolific of ulama anywhere in the Muslim world today”.

The author has cited several reasons for it. One of the reasons is Mufti Usmani has ‘a long history of association with the government’. Rulers tended to seek his help on some sensitive issues, but there were at least two occasions namely ‘Protection of Women Act and the Lal Masjid episode,’ when he and his elder brother, Mufti Rafi Usmani made adverse remarks against the rulers.

Taqi Usmani has served as a judge of the Federal Shariah Court. He also remained a member of the Shariah appellate bench of the Supreme Court for 17 years, but he was removed from the position in 2002 over a ‘conflict of interest’ issue. In that capacity Mufti Usmani had written a detailed legal opinion in support of the ban on all interest-based transactions in the country.

“Such appointments served in turn, to consolidate his standing in Pakistan and abroad as an alim who could masterfully draw on this scholastic tradition to address the legal and economic problems of the contemporary world,” opined Mr Zaman.

This had also earned him lucrative positions on ‘shariah boards’ of several international financial institutions in Middle East and the West.

“The dividends of the ulama’s accommodation to modern forms of knowledge are in full evidence in his case.”

Moreover, son of distinguished scholar, Mufti Muhammad Shafi, Mufti Usmani is an impressive scholar who has ‘ability to speak and write in a manner that people of a Western intellectual formation were able to understand.’

“He is seen as distinguished by his religious learning and his many books but also by his ability to bridge traditional and modern learning, his recognition in both the Arab world and in the West.”

In addition to the seminary education, he had got degrees from the Karachi University and University of Punjab. His son had also done PhD.

He represented the ‘forward-looking yet authentic face of contemporary Islam,’ believes Mr Zaman.

Another noteworthy incident in the city in 2019 was the killing of Dr Haider Askari, 58.

He was shot dead near the KDA market in Block-3 of Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Aug 30 when unidentified men on a motorcycle opened fire on his car.

A senior police officer said that the police considered the killing of the senior doctor as a ‘sectarian incident’.

On the same day, a bomb attack took place in Quaidabad area of the city.

The bomb was fitted in a motorbike which was parked outside a mosque.

A police officer said that the incident occurred on the same day when the country was observing a solidarity day with Kashimirs.

The officer said that they suspected involvement of separatist nationalists in the incident.

In shocking incidents, two young girls were kidnapped in DHA.

On May 11, a girl named Bisma was abducted in DHA by armed men travelling in a car. She returned home after one week reportedly after paying ransom.

A police officer said that apparently, law enforcers ‘over-looked’ this kidnapping incident.

On Nov 30, another girl, Dua Mangi, was kidnapped by four armed men, who first shot her friend, Haris Soomro, in Khayaban-i-Bukhari.

The girl was freed after one week reportedly after paying ransom money.

The police suspected involvement of the same group in both incidents.

The police officer said that Ms Mangi’s kidnapping case has been taken ‘more seriously’ than the previous kidnapping incident and there was a chance that law enforcers might catch the kidnappers.

City police chief version

The Karachi police chief, Additional Inspector General Ghulam Nabi Memon, told Dawn that the police had succeeded in arresting 29 kidnappers who were involved in 32 cases of kidnapping in the city.

“We are continuously working to crack the pending gangs, including those who are involved in Bisma and Dua Mangi kidnapping cases.”

He suggested that in this particular crime, the police needed public support so that they can give their best to the city and free it from this menace.

He revealed that there was 33pc reduction in the cases of target killing. In 2018 the number of target killing cases was 18 while 12 cases were reported in 2019.

Talking about terrorism incidents, the police chief said there was no bomb blast in the city in 2019 while there were three such cases in 2018 and 51 cases in 2013.

Referring other organised crimes, he pointed out that there had been no bank robbery in the city since August.

The city police chief claimed that there had been reduction in cases of street crimes in the city. The cases of robbery and murder were also reduced. However, the number of murders due to personal enmity was slightly higher in comparison to previous year. He said average murder per day in the city was 1.3 in 2019, far less than eight murders per day in 2013.

The police have carried out 266 encounters with alleged terrorists/criminals in which 30 outlaws were killed and 866 criminals were arrested.

“Besides, we succeeded in arresting 19,045 other criminals and terrorists who were involved in heinous offences from whom we have recovered 234 bombs, 61KK, 84 rifles and over 7000 other weapons.”

“To declare Karachi police as failure owing to a few unresolved cases will be a great injustice with the police when we are working with meagre resources and poor technology,” said Mr Memon.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2020