Karachi Police. PHOTO: NNI/FILE
He was presiding over a weekly law and order meeting at the CM House on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by CM's Information Adviser Barrister Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Sindh IGP Dr Kaleem Imam, Home Secretary Kazi Kabir, Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani, Karachi Additional IG Dr Ameer Shaikh, counter-terrorism department (CTD) Additional IG Dr Waliullah Dal, Deputy IGs (DIG) of Karachi and DIGs of other divisions participated in the meeting through video conferences.
The chief minister took up two incidents in the meetings - killing of an employee of Karachi Development Authority (KDA) in PECHS and firing by policemen in which a couple sustained bullet injuries in Korangi.
Couple injured in Korangi shootout
The chief minister said that these incidents should not have happened. How could policemen open fire in the public market area? At this, IG Imam said that he was personally monitoring the investigation into the Korangi firing incident.
They agreed that in-service trainings will be given to the police in which they will be trained on police operations in the city areas, snap-checking and chasing culprits in market areas.
Besides, residential and behavioural guidelines would also be given to policemen.
On the issue of police stations being established in unauthorised buildings and places, pointed out by the home secretary, the chief minister directed the chief secretary and Police IG to identify proper places to shift the police stations.
Similar complaints have also been received from Shaheed Benazirabad where the women's hostel has been taken over by the police. "This should be stopped and the police should establish their offices at appropriate, authorised places," said CM Shah.
Traffic management operation
Karachi Additional IG Dr Ameer Shaikh suggested that a drive against fancy number plates be launched so that culprits could not use them. The chief minister pointed out that the Excise Minister has reported that most of the registration number plates were ready but the owners have not collected them.
Therefore, he directed the Police IG to start an operation against vehicles with fancy number plates, fake government plates and those that haven't gotten their names transferred but are driving them. This operation would be started across the province.
The chief minister took exception to police checking in the middle of main roads which not only causes traffic congestion but is also unpleasant to those passing by.
Law and order meeting: ‘78 sensitive places in Karachi being monitored’
He allowed the police to continue this checking process but at least avoid morning office and school timings.
The chief minister directed the police IG to launch an operation against such buses, trucks, dumpers and land cruisers that were found involved in the smuggling of Iranian oil.
As far as non-customs paid vehicles were concerned, the chief minister was informed that they had seized such vehicles a number of times and handed them over to Customs authorities but they are released and seen on roads again.
The chief minister tasked the chief secretary to take up this issue with the Customs authorities and also urged them to launch a drive against Iranian petrol smuggling.
Drug peddling
Home Secretary Kazi Kabir informed the chief minister that he had started holding meetings with the management of private educational institutions to sensitise them about drug peddling in institutions. He added that he had also taken them into confidence about necessary measures.
Remote participation
The DIGs of Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Shaheed Benazirabad and Mirpurkhas participated in the meeting through video link.
Larkana DIG Javed Akbar said that the law and order in the division was satisfactory, however, there were some problems in areas of slums and of tribal feuds. He said that in slums, a targeted operation has been launched and actions have been taken to stop tribal feuds. The chief minister asked if he was coordinating with the border force of Balochistan.
The DIG said that there were 30 check posts along the Sindh-Balochistan border and last month he had held a meeting with his counterpart of Balochistan.
The chief minister directed the IG police to develop a tripartite meeting, in which IGs of three bordering provinces, Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab meet once in two or three months to chalk out the strategy for strict vigilance on the movement of outlaws on the borders and then form their subordinate groups of DIGs and SSPs level for implementation of their decisions.
Mirpurkhas SSP Abid Baloch said that incidents of suicide were on the rise in Thar district. The chief minister said that they had recently sent a team of Sindh Mental Health Authority (SMHA), led by its Chairman Dr Karim Khwaja, to Thar.
He had taken leading experts/psychiatrists to Mithi and held a seminar there. "Our team is preparing a paper and would submit their recommendations," he said and also urged the SSP to involve local people and doctors to prepare a preliminary paper along with recommendation and send it to him so that necessary measures could be taken for the welfare of people in the area.
The chief minister, concluding the meeting, directed the IG police to deploy well-trained, well-dressed and alert traffic policemen on Sharae Faisal for traffic management.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 24th, 2019.
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