Law to deal with registration of seminaries across Sindh. PHOTO: AFP
The Sindh government will never allow terrorists and religious fanatics to keep playing with the lives of innocent people even if the federal government refuses to cooperate, which is evident from the response of the interior ministry, he said during the Sindh cabinet meeting on Thursday.
The list of 94 seminaries involved in promoting terrorism and the evidence supporting this claim, which was spread over 46 pages, was sent to the federal interior ministry. In response, the interior ministry sent a three-page letter.
“I was quite surprised that an attempt was made to politicise the issue instead of taking action,” said Shah. “Come what may, we will go ahead and keep crushing the terrorists wherever they live. We lost our leadership at the hands of terrorists, we sacrificed the lives of our law enforcement personnel and we have sacrificed innocent citizens, including the children. Enough is enough.”
Law and order
Thursday’s meeting started with Sindh IG Allah Dino Khawaja’s briefing on police performance over 2015-2016. Terrorism has come down by 15%, extortion by 27%, kidnappings by 12%, target killings by 27%, murders by 29% and robberies by 21%. Even target killings of law enforcers has gone down by 60%, he claimed.
The IG said there is huge hue and cry over the rise in street crimes but he insisted even those numbers have gone down. There is a 24% decrease in mobile snatching and 34% decrease in car snatching. Only motorcycle theft has risen by 14%.
The chief minister still told the IG to take strict action to control street crime. “We can’t be happy merely on the declining figures of criminal activities,” he said. “It is our responsibility to bring it down to zero. The people of this city have seen a lot of blood and now I want to see smiles and confidence on their faces.”
Arms licences
The chief minister denied permission to the home department to issue new arms licences. He asked the home secretary, Shakeel Mangnijo, to speed up the registration process on the ones he has received so far. Nevertheless, he formed a committee — comprising special assistants to the CM, Burhan Chandio and Qasim Shah, and health minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro — to review the arms licence policy.
Amendment in LG Act
The cabinet members declined the local government department’s proposal to amend Section 25 of the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, and allow the removal of the mayor and other elected officials if they are suspected of ‘inciting terrorism’. The proposal was declined as the members agreed the removal should be done through a vote of no-confidence, as per the law.
However, the cabinet formed a committee under senior minister Nisar Khuhro, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, Murtaza Wahab, Chandio, Qasim and others to examine the proposed amendment and give its recommendations.
New section in CrPC
The cabinet discussed adding a new section in the Criminal Procedure Code, making DNA testing mandatory in rape cases. Within 72 hours of a rape, DNA samples must be collected by the police for testing, stated the proposal. The cabinet approved the proposal in principle but formed a committee to examine the entire clause, propose recommendations in the draft and suggest a detailed mechanism to collect samples and a penalty in case the officer fails to collect the samples.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2017.
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