The provincial governments of Sindh and Punjab are making history by registering hundreds of thousands of cases apparently against the rioters and looters but in fact implying political workers particularly of Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N who are active in election campaign against the King’s party, Pakistan Muslim League-Q.
Reportedly, around more than 2,000 FIRs have been registered against more than half a million alleged accused in incidents of looting, arson and vandalism in 18 districts of interior Sindh, while more than 700 people have been arrested after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The reports further say that a large number of people not officially declared arrested have been detained by police. Registration of FIRs still continues in the province.
According to reports, more than 100,000 accused have been booked in Khairpur district, around 91,000 in Thatta, 82,000 in Naushahro Feroz and 75,000 in Jacobabad. In Tando Mohammad Khan, 125 FIRs have been registered against 17,000 accused and in Nawabshah 72 FIRs against 14,000 people and so on. The number and details of FIRs and the accused in Larkana, Sukkur and Ghotki districts are still awaited.
The caretaker Government of Punjab seems trying utmost to implicate maximum number of people in cases of looting and arson but it lags far behind the Sindh government. There are reports of FIRs against large number of people from different districts of the province but those are just in thousands.
This shameful act of the provincial governments raises many questions. First, are there such a large number of criminals or the gangs of criminals in the two provinces who are well-prepared and well-equipped to jump upon any opportunity of looting and arson in the absence of law enforcement agencies? Did the police deliberately abandoned their police stations and hid themselves to provide opportunity to the looters? If the police and other law enforcement agencies were scared of the wrath of agitating people at the assassination of their leader then what is the logic of implicating hundreds of thousands of people in criminal cases? Was this not the responsibility of the police and other law enforcement agencies to protect the government property and the life and property of the people? Should the cases be registered against the law enforcement personnel who ran away leaving the people at the mercy of looters?
Will the half million accused be arrested and tried in the courts of law? Will such a large number of accused be put in jails and will it be possible? If not then what is the logic of this absurd activity except harassment and intimidation of opposition leaders and workers to affect their election campaigns?
Registration of cases against hundreds of thousands of political workers of opposition parties contesting against PML-Q and its allies is a new kind of election rigging. The most of the accused in FIRs are unidentified and anybody can be implicated in the cases of looting and arson. The assassination of Ms Bhutto has certainly benefited her opponents too as they got opportunity to harass and intimidate political workers of the opposition parties.