| Operation Clean-up | |
|---|---|
| Part ofMQM Militancy | |
 Prime ministerNawaz Sharif along with Chief of Army Staff GeneralAsif Nawaz and V Corps GOC-in-Chief Lieutenant General Naseer Akhtar visiting General Headquarters (GHQ) to get briefing on 19th June of 1992 Operation preparations. | |
| Operational scope | Cleansing of the city of "anti-social" elements. |
| Location | |
| Planned by |  Pakistan Army,Intelligence Bureau, andFIA |
| Target | |
| Date | 19 June 1992 − 16 August 1994 (2 years, 1 month and 4 weeks) (UTC+05:00PKT) |
| Executed by | |
| Outcome | Sindh government victory.
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Operation Clean-up, also known asOperation Blue Fox, was an armed intelligence program and anti-crime operation led by theSindh Police andSindh Rangers, with some support from thePakistan Army and its related-intelligence agencies. It was planned by theFIA,Intelligence Bureau, army and launched the directives of Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif in 1992. The program was more strictly pursued by upcoming Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto in 1993–1994, as part of her internal policies.Its objective was to cleanseKarachi city of anti-social elements as well as reduce crime such asstreet crime andgang warfare. The program targeted theMuhajir Qaumi Movement (Altaf) and theMohajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi) over the controversy regarding the alleged plan on having the cities of Karachi and Hyderabad break away from the province of Sindh and be a province itself known asJinnahpur.
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| Muhajirs |
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TheMuttahida Qaumi Movement (denoted asMQM) is a centre-left and liberal political party which was founded in 1984 by its activist leader,Altaf Hussain who was a student at theUniversity of Karachi in the 1970s.[1] According to the memoirs of GeneralMirza Beg, the MQM had its support fromPresident GeneralZia-ul-Haq since its very early foundation in 1984, in a view to sideline theJamaat-e-Islami Pakistan inKarachi andPakistan Peoples Party in ruralSindh.[1] Such claims had been dismissed by MQM's former convenerImran Farooq.[2][3] MQM took part inlocal government elections and participated well in1985 general elections, initially becoming part ofmilitary–technocratic government ofPresident GeneralZia-ul-Haq. Afterdeath of President Zia-ul-Haq, MQM contested in1988 general elections, acquiring considerable political leverage with 13 seats inparliament.[4] MQM was part ofPPP-led government ofBenazir Bhutto but its repressive persuasion ofrepatriation ofBiharis fromBangladesh camps soured the relations between each other.[4] MQM went on to support the "vote of no confidence" against Benazir Bhutto which took the incumbency by surprise.[4] As early as 1988–89, the political problems in Karachi began to arise and reached its climax in 1990 when theSindh Policeopened fire onMuhajir protesters (mostly women and children) outsideHyderabad city inPakka Killa. The ensuing violence led to the events dismissing Benazir Bhutto from the office.[4]
After coming in power as a result of1990 general elections, the MQM re-demonstrated its political power in Sindh as part of theIDA government led byNawaz Sharif.[4] During this time, violence arose with the disagreements betweenone faction led byAfaq Ahmed andAltaf Hussain of MQM. MQM was later subdued by Nawaz Sharif in 1991 due to a brief clash of ideology.[4]
Since its founding, theMuhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) and its student wing, theAll Pakistan Muhajir Students Organization (APMSO), had engaged in a bitter rivalry withJamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JIP) and its student wing,Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT), with bloody confrontations on university campuses andturf wars later on involvingstreet fighting,gang warfare andurban warfare. Additionally, MQM was accused of operating as amafia organization where its heavily armed militants usedextortion andcoercion to increase their influence.[5]
In 1992, a program's studies for an operation led by the Rangers in Karachi were concluded under theDirector-General of theIntelligence Bureau,Brigadier (retired)Imtiaz Ahmed as codename: OperationClean-up, recommending the protocol. On personal initiatives of Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif,Clean-up protocol was initiated under Imtiaz Ahmed and thePakistan Rangers, focusing on taking measures against thedecoits in ruralSindh, not specific to political parties.[4] According to the sources, the program's protocol was to last six months, deadline was until June 1992.[6]
The program went in cold storage after Sharif was dismissed but again came in effect and revival after the1993 general elections which sawBenazir Bhuttocoming in power andMQM winning the provisional elections decisively.[4] The proposal was put forward and Benazir Bhutto renamed the program's protocol as "Blue Fox" in 1993 and more aggressively persuade with the program.[7] Among the reasons given for the launching of theBlue Fox were theJinnahpur affair and theMajor Kaleem Case in Karachi that occurred in 1993.[8] The street fighting with thePakistan People's Party continued in rural Karachi with the PPP's controversial decision of forming ofMalir District in 1994.[4]
After the Nawaz government fell, the anti-MQM operation continued into thenew Benazir Bhutto government. The army recognised that the program's protocol actually took place during theGovernment of Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto.[8][9] The diameter and focus of the program was widened toPakistan Armed Forces when the idea of the 25th Mechanized Division ofV Corps (for support) and the internal wing of theISI (on intelligence) was invited by Benazir Bhutto. The Rangers'search and destroy operation led to the discovery of arm caches and torture chambers in elsewhere in Karachi.[4] Thegun battles,urban warefare andstreet fighting in Karachi increased the Muhajir-Sindhi violence.[4]Lieutenant-General Naseer Akhtar andMajor-General Safdar Ali Khan, assistingBrigadierImtiaz Ahmed, directly reported to the government on the course of actions. In December 1993, Defence ministerAftab Mirani maintained that theRanger operation in Sindh "will continue as long as it is needed."[10] In a press release in January 1994,Interior Minister,Naseerullah Babar, added in that "OperationClean-Up" was likely to continue until June.[11]
During its final phases on 19 May 1994, Prime ministerBenazir Bhutto chaired a meeting withChief minister ofSindhAbdullah Shah, Interior ministerNaseerullah Babar,chief of army staffGeneralWaheed Kakar and other key civilian and military officials atGeneral Headquarters (GHQ), to decide on the modalities ofOperation Clean-up in Sindh; the operation was to be carried out by thePakistan Rangers, more specifically, theSindh Rangers with some support from the Army.[12]
Ending in 1994, the period is regarded as the bloodiest period in Karachi's history, with thousands killed or gone missing in the fighting. In May 1995, arm clashes again broke out between theMQM and theSindh Police, who managed by thePPP.[4] Benazir Bhutto's steps towards thecounterinsurgency did, however, bring some calm in Karachi by the spring of 1996.[4] Over this issue,Murtaza Bhutto was notably gunned down in apolice encounter with the Sindh Police. Within seven-weeks, PresidentFarooq Leghari dismissed the government ofBenazir Bhutto, primarily charging the issue ofMurtaza Bhutto and the killings ofMQM workers.[4] Furthermore, the program came to its final halt in end years of 1996 after the dismissal of Benazir Bhutto's government.[4] MQM again participated well in1997 general elections and re-demonstrated its political leverage in the parliament.[4]
Although 32 years to 34 years have passed since the arrests or disappearance of MQM workers, families of the missing people have registered cases in theSupreme Court of Pakistan and are still searching for their loved ones.[13]
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