PTI quizzes Punjab about 1,000-plus POs on the loose

Andleeb Abbas questions Rs792.8 million cut in budget of police, CTD


Danish Hussain December 22, 2016
PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has written a letter to the Punjab government seeking details of more than 1,000 proclaimed offenders (POs) who are at large even though they had been booked in terror cases in the past.

The letter was written on Wednesday by PTI leader Andleeb Abbas in the backdrop of a report submitted by the Punjab police in the Lahore High Court in which the police have admitted that some 1,002 POs have yet to be taken into custody. Some of these are involved in terrorism-related offenses.

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Abbas has sought information on the POs under the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013.

The report, jointly compiled by the Punjab police and its Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), was submitted in November 2016 before Justice Abdul Sami Khan, the administrative judge of Anti-Terrorism Courts. The report stated that while 57 POs were arrested in October, another 41 escaped during the same period because of the negligence of the officials concerned. The report admitted the implementation of the National Action Plan had been severely hampered by the poor performance of police and CTD.



According to the report, 233 POs are on the run in Gujranwala, 187 in Lahore, 176 in Dera Ghazi Khan, 119 in Rawalpindi, 116 in Sheikhupura, 97 in Faisalabad, 46 in Bahawalpur, 16 in Multan, eight in Sargodha while six poS are at large in the Sahiwal region.

Justice Sami had directed the police to arrest the POs as soon as possible and submit charge-sheets against those already in the custody of the law enforcers.

Abbas has also sought answers to some of the questions, including why the Punjab police has failed to apprehend these POs, despite the fact that out of the total 122,772 combing operations carried out in the country under NAP, 56,834 or 46%, have been conducted in Punjab alone. “Has any action been taken against the negligent officials, she asked.

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Abbas also asked why the CTD budget had been cut by about Rs792.8 million for financial year 2015-16. She asked what steps has been taken by the Punjab government to improve the performance of police and CTD.

She also said that if the police had failed to protect ordinary citizens and their lives are in danger due to high crime rates and terrorists on the loose, why has the Punjab government not invited the Rangers to control the situation?

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2016.

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