KARACHI, Aug 10: The Sindh government is considering granting pieces of land to the Rangers in different parts of the province — including suburban areas of Karachi — mainly for residential purposes, which may lead to their evacuation from public buildings and allow the paramilitary force to permanently stay in the city in their own lodgings.
Discussions with senior officials in the Sindh government suggested a fast-evolving strategy was being prepared to offer the Rangers land for residential purposes in more than one part of the province.
However, they declined to share the details of the proposals forwarded by the high-ups of the paramilitary force and seconded by the federal authorities in Islamabad.
“The bottom line is that the government is considering different areas for the Rangers for their staff residences and offices,” said a senior official without mentioning the individuals or institutions behind the idea. He said that the land along the highways within the jurisdiction of Karachi was being potentially considered.
“They (Rangers) would obviously acquire that (land) through a proper deal with the provincial government. They would pay for the land they are offered,” said the official.
The situation has emerged more than two months after the Senate’s standing committee on interior demanded that the Rangers be moved from public buildings – including educational institutions in the city – and personnel of the paramilitary force be relocated to other residential facilities.
Members of the committee, which met top officials of the Rangers in May 2008, were convinced that a separate residential arrangement for the around 12,000-strong Rangers’ force based in Karachi, which has been occupying hostels of educational institutions and other public facilities for the last several years, is a must.
The debate within the provincial government echoed in discussions with Mohammad Talha Mahmood Aryan, chairman of the Senate’s standing committee on interior, who agreed that recommendations forwarded by the legislators to the federal authorities more than two months ago were about to be realized.
“We put the matter before the authorities and asked them to arrange permanent residential facilities rather than keep (the Rangers) in hostels and colleges, which causes damage to the particular building’s utilities,” he told Dawn when asked about the status of the proposal.
‘No other option’
“The Rangers have their own compulsions for staying in such buildings as they don’t have any other option. But we are hopeful that these hurdles will be removed and we will ask the government to make arrangements to relocate these soldiers from public buildings.”
When it was pointed out that the proposal seemed to indicate that the Rangers would be making a permanent home in Karachi – the force was actually called in on a temporary basis in 1989 – the senator said the current policy of the government suggests measures along similar lines.
“This is an issue which should be addressed by the policymakers. We are of the view that if the Rangers are assigned to assist the police and the provincial government, they should be provided regular and proper facilities.”
The paramilitary force has been assisting the police in Karachi since 1989 when the Pakistan People’s Party government in the centre at the time had called in the Rangers and the Frontier Constabulary to curb rising political violence in the metropolis.
Currently, the Rangers occupy different government buildings in the city for residential purposes, which also include hostels of the University of Karachi and Jamia Millia Degree College in Malir.
The annual budget allocation for the Sindh Rangers, which overshot by 55 per cent during the last fiscal, has been increased by 4.8 per cent for the financial year 2008-09. The government allocated Rs410.1 million for the Sindh Rangers during the last financial year while the revised estimates in the budget are shown as Rs637.9 million, indicating the actual budget allocation overshot by Rs227.8 million.
The officials in the Sindh government, however, did not share the details of the area, cost and ownership of land meant for the Rangers and the impact of the proposal on the budget allocations for the paramilitary force.
Despite sketchy details from the provincial and federal authorities on the subject, the proposal is likely to materialize in the days to come as the paramilitary force itself feels it is the need of the hour.
“We have always wanted our own accommodations,” said a Rangers spokesman when reached over the telephone. “The issue has been raised time and again with the authorities concerned. We have also formally requested the interior ministry to address this problem.”
The permanent facility for the force with ownership would help boost their performance, suggested Senator Aryan, who added that once the plan to offer land to the Rangers was finalized, the mechanism for its acquisition would be taken up by the authorities.
“It is not a source of concern,” he said. “Once the institutions and officials concerned decide and mark out the land for the Rangers in Sindh, the matter of payment or ownership will be settled amicably by the federal and provincial governments.”
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