KARACHI   -  Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said Wednesday that considerable improvement was witnessed in law and order situation owing sacrifices of law enforcement agencies, admitting that there is still need for further improvement.

Speaking on the adjournment motion moved on law and order issue Karachi in Sindh Assembly, Murad said that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has taken this issue seriously and fortunately no big terrorism incident was reported in the province during this year.

The chief minister reminded that 61 terrorism incidents were reported in 2013 and the figure dropped to just two in 2017. “We have traced the elements behind the assassination of renowned Qawwal Amjad Sabri, journalist Wali Baber.

The government has also uncovered the culprits involved in Sehwan Sharif bomb attack, whereas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the rulers miserably failed to catch the terrorists involved in Army Public School Peshawar attack,” Murad said.

He said that he was not mentioning these figures to get credit but to recognise the performance of the law enforcers. The people of the province give credit to the PPP after every five years. The personnel of law enforcement agencies had scarified their lives to restore the peace and the government paid homage to those who lost their lives in line of duty.

Expressing gratitude for the opposition, the CM said that it had also played its role to maintain the law and order situation of the province. Talking about the street crimes, Murad said that there was significant decrease in street crimes.

Referring towards the removal Punjab IG, he said that civil society is quite active in Sindh as it approached the court AD Khawaja issue whereas in Punjab after every three week a new IG is being appointed to run the security affairs.

Murad said that the situation was worst when the PPP took over in 2008, reminding that Cop Commander Karachi had also been targeted. “All those inspectors who took part in 90s operation were targeted,” he added.

Muhammad Hussain of the MQM-P, who moved the adjournment motion, said that the law and order situation was improved owing to the joint operation of the security agencies with the consultation of all stakeholders.

He said that now the criminals are roaming freely despite the activities expenditures of billions of rupees on the home department. Quoting the figures, the MQM-P lawmaker said that 270 persons were killed since January 2018, adding that 12 kidnapping for ransom and 42 exertion cases have also been recorded.

Similar, he informed that 386 people were killed in 2017 whereas 18 kidnapping and 66 extortion cases were also reported in the same year.

Hussain added that the people were also hit hard by the street crime as according to him thousands of cars, motorcycles, mobile phones and jewelry were snatched from the people. ‘The people are considering themselves unsafe in these circumstances.

Speaking on the occasion, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentary leader Haleem Adil Shaikh emphasised that the police should be depoliticized to curb the menace of crime. The inspector general of police should be empowered through legislation as per the directives of the court.

The PTI leader was of the view that majority of drug users were involved in criminal activities, saying that the crimes can never be eradicated unless effective actions against drugs are not taken.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) parliamentary leader Kanwar Naveed Jameel demanded that the local policing system should be implemented to get the better outcome of the police. “Hundreds of people having domicile of other provinces are serving in Karachi police,” he added.

Jameel alleged that the crimes are being done under the patronage of police, which he said admitted by Karachi police Chief Amir Shaikh. Khawaja Izharulhasan said that Rs500 billion have been spent on the home department yet it failed to maintain law and order.

Pakistan Peoples Party’s Marvi Rashdi, PTI’s Khurram Sher Zaman, Nusrat Seher Abbasi of the Grand Democratic Alliance, Syed Abdur Rasheed of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and Javed Hanif of MQM-P also spoke on the issue.

Earlier, the house also admitted another adjournment motion moved by the MQM-P MPA Rashid Khilji on the issue of unannounced loadshedding in Sindh. The adjournment motion was accepted and the discussion was fixed for Monday.

The Code of Civil Procedure (Sindh Amendment) Bill, 2018, which had to be considered, was sent to a committee headed by the minister for local government for deliberation. Other members of the committee included Pir Mujeebu Huq, Ghanwer Ali Khan Isran, Khawaja Izharulhasan, Arif Mustufa Jatoi. Later, the house was adjourned till Thursday at 10AM.

 

 

MUHAMMAD SABIH