Pakistan People’s Party co-chairperson Asif Zardari’s diatribe against security establishment has ruffled the political landscape of Sindh. In stark contrast to his usual mellow demeanour, Zardari’s verbal whipping has created ripples in the national politics.

Although the retreat was not too late, many consider it too little. His party stalwarts painstakingly retrofitted his speech by summoning every bit of creativity; but their vacillating explanations could hardly mollify the enraged establishment.

The advent of apex committees gave a chance to the security establishment to straddle the civilian government’s orbit in provinces, especially in Sindh. Proceedings of the recently held apex committee meetings bear traces of friction between the provincial government and the security apparatus. Karachi, the epicentre of conflict, for years, has been at the mercy of different mafias. Since the mid-1980s, the city has bled due to multifaceted violence. Over the years, groups competing for its control have fragmented the city into a number of enclaves. Fuzzy boundaries of these fiefdoms kept changing with every major spate of violence.

Militant wings of political and religious groups have been battling for control over land and extortion money. Gradually, political parties with militant wings morphed into militant parties with political wings. Militancy became a ladder to power corridors that perpetuated power and militancy in the city. Demarcation along ethnic, sectarian and factional fault lines kept remapping the city.

All of this was not happening in a vacuum. Strings were being pulled by fastidious fingers. Civil administration was rendered paralysed over time and the city plunged into an irrevocable chaos. As the battle intensified, monopoly over violence diluted and new actors claimed their share in the pie.

Militancy was not confined to extortion and land grabbing; it transformed into political power that blighted civilian dispensations in the province. Political power during elected regimes became a tool to legitimise all heinous deeds of certain militant groups. With the onset of war against terrorism in the country, the importance of Karachi increased manifold.

Stakes of international powers in Karachi opened new avenues of interests for local stakeholders. During the past 15 years, the MQM has strived to demonstrate its unparalleled control over the city affairs whereas other ethnicities defiantly challenged this notion.

During the post-9/11 years, the MQM’s obsession with demonstrating its sole proprietorship of the city was aimed at emerging as the only negotiator for international interest groups. It utilised the Musharraf regime to the hilt for this purpose and it enjoyed support from the highest office of the country.

By the time the PPP seized the throne in Sindh in 2008, the MQM held a tight grip over Karachi’s affairs and also assumed the central role on the chessboard of international forces. The position of MQM was only rivalled by Pakhtun and Baloch militant groups.

An organised Pakhtun and Baloch militancy is a relatively juvenile phenomenon in the city, frustrating the MQM’s position of sole negotiator. These two new manifestations of ethnic militancy have carved out new zones of influence in the city by shrinking the MQM’s domain of power.

After a series of malevolent battles and hundreds of brutal killings, new ethnic enclaves have emerged on the city map. New contours of this turf war are defined by a complex amalgam of politics, crime, corruption and militancy. These four ingredients characterise the current power-tapestry of Karachi.

Both civilian governments and security establishment have played their role in shaping the present edifice of Karachi. Civilian administration does not exist for all practical purposes. From birth certificate to land acquisition, all government functions are controlled by different gangs in the city. Citizens normally take recourse to local power lords for everyday services and adjudication of local conflicts.

A PPP-MQM coalition ruled Sindh for seven years punctuated by frequent pauses of estrangement. The PPP government not only failed to bridle the crime and militancy in the city, it rather augmented it by allowing an unhindered proliferation of corruption and crime in the province.

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Corruption is not new to Pakistani politics and governments, however the magnitude, sprawl and brazenness was mind-boggling this time. As a corollary, Sindh became a cesspool of corruption and nepotism, surpassing all peaks of the past. Local administration is infested with inefficient cronies who have perfected the art of money minting. Civic services have completely collapsed as the municipal administration budgets of towns have been earmarked for hefty out-of-pocket expenses of local elected representatives. TMAs budgets are wiped out by the salaries of unreasonably oversized staff and extortion for elected representatives, leaving little to maintain municipal services. Scruffy streets, derelict infrastructure and absence of municipal services in towns and villages reveal the enormity of corruption and shoddiness of governance in the province.

Civil administration is being controlled through carefully-planted loyal officials on key positions by trampling all norms of merit. Judiciary has remained seized with a number of complaints regarding violation of merit and a dysfunctional service structure in the province. Whenever a decree for course correction came, it has been derided by a piece of new legislation in Sindh Assembly that kept churning such laws on demand within minutes.

Chairman of the Sindh Public Service Commission opted to resign in January 2015 as he could not comply with the orders demanding murky recruitments. In spite of having an absolute administrative authority, the PPP has failed to provide quality services in education, health, infrastructure, public health and public safety. Hundreds of children perished in Thar because of malnutrition and crumbled health services. Hospitals and schools in Sindh are in a state of disarray. Ghost employees flourish in every department that deny public services to millions of people in the province.

Meritless recruitment and postings in the police department has allowed dens of criminals to thrive. Extortion, abduction, snatching, murder, land grabbing and road robberies have left deep scars on the economy of province. It has brought investment to a screeching halt and business community started shifting their businesses to other provinces and countries with a devastating impact on social fabric of Sindh.

Rural areas bereft of economic opportunities and public sector investment are virtually enslaved by politically-powered feudal lords. A subjugated local administration is compelled to pay allegiance to local lords, who in turn are under solemn oath of loyalty to the top leadership of the ruling party.

Sadly, the provincial government not only failed to minister its subjects, it remained aloof from their miseries and maintained a glaring state of denial. Every criticism was scoffed as an outpour of defeated and anti-democratic elements.

The day newspapers carried banner headlines of Zardari’s broadside at the security establishment, inside pages of newspapers covered an indictment of the provincial government by its own minister. According to the news item, the provincial minister for Inquiry and Inspection, Haji Muzaffar Ali Shujra, levelled serious allegations of corruption against officials working under his own government. Shujra said officials working at various provincial government departments, particularly finance, education and health, had developed strong links to loot and plunder the public money.

As the PPP leadership drifted away from its legacy of pro-people policies and detached itself from masses, credibility stock of the party rapidly depleted in Sindh.

Rangers’ transgression of their mandate against this backdrop has emerged as a serious challenge for the party leadership. Political parties can confront security establishment only through moral authority and masses’ support; unfortunately the PPP lacks both. While Zardari could not suppress his outburst as the noose was being tightened around the Sindh government, his retreat was even more embarrassing for his party stalwarts and workers, some of whom have nostalgic memories of the anti-establishment genetic makeup of the party.

A panicked Sindh government delved into the official archives and dusted down a 15 years old request to hurriedly allot 9,600 acres of forest land in Sindh for army martyrs. Another leader eulogised the incumbent army commander and asserted that Zardari’s tongue shots were aimed at General Musharraf. A few days later, speaking at the birth anniversary of Benazir Bhutto, Zardari added a new dimension by alleging that they are being targeted because he is not willing to withdraw BB’s murder case against an ex-general.

It clearly indicates that the earlier salvo against security establishment was impromptu and not pre-meditated. After facing electoral ostracism in all provinces, Sindh is the last bastion of the PPP. The party is losing its only power-base due to its inept policies.