Murad orders crackdown on drug peddling in schools, colleges

Govt, private education institutes must come together with parents to form a mechanism

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed the Sindh Police to keep strict vigilance on drug peddling in educational institutions. "This is a grave matter and must be handled seriously," he said, adding, "The children are the future of Pakistan and we have to bring them up in a safe, secure and healthy environment."

The CM gave these directions on Wednesday while presiding over a weekly meeting on law and order at the CM House. The meeting was attended by Adviser to CM Barrister Murtaza Wahab, Sindh Police chief Inspector-General (IG) Dr Kaleem Imam, Principal Secretary to CM Sajid Jamal Abro, Home Secretary Abdul Kazi Kabir, counter-terrorism department (CTD) Additional IG (AIG) Dr Waliullah Dal, Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani, CTD deputy IG (DIG) Abdullah Shaikh, South DIG Sharjeel Kharal, East DIG Amir Farooqui and West DIG Ameen Yousuf Zai.

The CM said that parents were concerned about drug peddling in educational institutions. He said, "I am quite concerned about our children. They are innocent and can be moulded towards bad things," he said and added that it was their responsibility to save them from such evils.

South DIG Kharal informed the CM that he had arrested a suspect involved in making a group sell narcotics in educational institutions. Sindh IG Dr Imam said that, on the instructions of the CM, the police have already launched a targeted operation against the drug mafia and have busted different gangs.

The CM directed the education secretary to coordinate with the private education administration, police and parents if necessary, to develop a mechanism to stop narcotics peddling in schools and universities.

Giving progress of last week's meeting decisions, DIG Kharal informed the chair that he had held meetings with DHA authorities for the installation of more CCTV cameras and fixing the ones that were out of order. The street lights in DHA and Clifton areas were also to be fixed and maintained.

Karachi's varsities a hub for narcotics trade: report

He IG informed the CM that the culprits of the Chinese Consulate attack have successfully been arrested. At this, the CM directed the home secretary to issue instructions to all security agencies to get verification of their guards. "I want security audit of all the guards employed by security agencies," he said and added that apart from verification of their personnel, inspection of weapons must also be carried out. "I have noticed that most of the private security guards are untrained, which is dangerous," he said.

The CTD AIG Dr Dal and CTD DIG Abdullah Shaikh briefed the CM about busting a gang involved in making fake gun licences. The IG said that on the identification of the arrested culprits [involved in making fake licences], their facilitators in police department and deputy commissioner offices have also been taken into custody.

East DIG Farooqui and West DIG Yousuf Zai briefed the CM about the steps taken by them to curb street crime. They said that they have launched a crackdown against street criminals involved in mobile and motorcycle snatching. They added that the ratio of street crime had come down compared to 2018.

The IG said that he had created a special force of 10-20 well-trained policemen being stationed at SSP offices so that they could be called in case of any eventuality. The first batch of the force has been posted at South Zone in the first phase and in the second phase, they will be deployed in other zones. This initiative has been made after the attack on Chinese Consulate.

The IG said that he was preparing a mechanism to start recruitment round the year. "Over 10,000 policemen retire from their service every year, therefore the recruitment process, as approved by the CM was being started," he said. The CM said that the police have to make its training centres more professional for the training of new recruits and in-service trainings.

The CM also said that two important events, Pakistan Super League and multinational maritime AMAN Exercise 2019, were scheduled. The police have to provide these events security, therefore, necessary meetings with the quarters must be made.

The CM has started reviewing law and order situation all over Sindh every week. This was the third review meeting held on Wednesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2019.