KARACHI: A day after a decisive electoral triumph of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in the fiercely contested NA-246 by-poll, the Rangers chief on Friday sought to reject the widely held view that the Karachi operation is against a particular party.

The director-general of Rangers, Major General Bilal Akbar, also clarified the statement issued some four days ago by the paramilitary force asking people to keep their original computerised national identity cards with them, otherwise they could be arrested.

He said the Rangers only appealed to the people of Karachi to keep their CNICs and that the copies of CNICs would also be acceptable.

Read: Rangers tell Karachiites to carry original CNICs

On April 20, a Rangers spokesman in a brief announcement had asked the people “to keep with them their original ID cards” and that “copies of ID cards will not be acceptable and the individual in question will be taken into custody till his or her identity is positively proven”.

Besides, the Rangers DG said that the ban on pillion riding before the by-poll had not been placed by the paramilitary force.

Maj-Gen Akbar chose a luncheon hosted in his honour by the Federal B Area Association of Trade & Industry to speak to reporters in what appeared to be an attempt to explain his position on many issues.

A senior office-bearer of the trade body, Rashid Hamidani, told Dawn that the Rangers chief came for a lunch at the association’s office, where he also held an ‘informal press conference’.

While Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had categorically said he was not consulted before the imposition of the pillion-riding ban for the April 23 by-election, the Rangers chief said that the Sindh home department had imposed the ban and not the Rangers.

It is worth noting that the overall security for the NA-246 by-poll was the responsibility of the Rangers and they did not object to the pillion-riding ban or clarified then that they had nothing to do with it.

The Rangers DG said the provincial government should investigate the matter, as the Rangers did not propose the ban on pillion riding. He said that the holding of a peaceful election in Azizabad proved that the Rangers were not a threat to anyone’s politics and the Karachi operation was not against any particular group.

He said that the Rangers and police should be given the credit for the successful holding of the by-election. All the 213 polling stations were sensitive and there was a threat of a terrorist attack, he said. However, no such incident took place due to the security measures, he added.

About the last month killing of an MQM activist protesting against a raid by the Rangers, Maj-Gen Akbar disclosed that a probe had been completed into the killing of Syed Waqas Ali Shah. He said the Rangers had not killed the worker of any party.

Referring to the Karachi operation, the Rangers DG said that scores of criminals had been arrested in Lyari, but the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party never objected to any arrest.

He also disclosed that 75 criminals allegedly associated with the Awami National Party had also been arrested.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2015

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