Military Gets Wider Powers in Karachi

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday gave the military more powers to combat growing factional violence in Pakistan’s commercial capital, Karachi.

His move came as he faced criticism for an earlier decision to set up military courts in the Arabian Sea port of 12 million people.

A decree issued in the name of figurehead President Mohammed Rafiq Tarar late Thursday said the armed forces would have the additional powers to investigate offenses.

The decree amends one issued Nov. 20 to set up military courts in Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, weeks after Sharif dismissed the provincial government and imposed direct or governor’s rule. He said that measure was needed to thwart “terrorism” and restore peace in the city.

The original decree, denounced by opposition parties and human rights groups, had said that “in appropriate cases” the armed forces could supervise police investigations if directed by the federal government.

But Thursday’s decree said that, where appropriate, the armed forces could actually conduct investigations themselves, as opposed to just supervising.

No military courts have yet been set up, and there was no immediate official explanation of the change within six days.

Some local newspaper reports have said the military had voiced reservations about the short time of three days given to a military court to decide a case.

Opposition parties say they will go to court to challenge military courts, which they say will undermine the civilian judiciary.

The Nov. 20 decision was the most radical step Sharif’s government has yet taken against the near-daily bloodshed in Karachi.

His government blames a former ally, the Mohajirs National Movement or MQM, of causing the bloodshed to monopolize power for its supporters--Urdu-speaking Muslims who migrated from the rest of India at partition in 1947 and their descendants.

The MQM, whose leader Altaf Hussain lives in exile in London, denies the charge and accuses state security agencies and rival factions for the violence, which has claimed hundreds of lives so far this year.

Sharif said last week that all cases of terrorism and serious crimes in Karachi would be shifted to military courts and that appeals would also be heard by higher military courts.