Rise in kidnappings

The first and foremost responsibility of government is to ensure security of life and property to people. Keeping this fact in view the Sindh cabinet has rightly expressed grave concern over the rise in kidnappings in the province. In the past six months, 106 abduction cases have been reported as compared to the corresponding period of last year. The government was not convinced by Sindh police chief Mushtaq Mahar’s plea that the police force was making all efforts to arrest robbers and other criminals in order to provide security to people. Some of the characteristic features of the present trend of abductions are that dacoits are using female voices to lure people for their purposes, a tactic being mostly adopted in rural areas. In most cases, hostages are released after paying a ransom of Rs200, 000 which does not go beyond Rs5 million. This shows that kidnappers are mostly targeting middle-income and low-income groups. They are active mostly in Sukkur, Ghotki, Shikarpur, and Kandhkot. The police chief informed the cabinet meeting that out of 106 hostages, only 20 had not been recovered, and most hostages were released after payment of ransom. Independent sources claim the police often play a role in payment of ransom to dacoits as they act as a go-between the latter and hostages’ families. The Sindh CM has warned that action will be taken against police officers in whose jurisdiction a kidnapping incident takes place.

The IG informed the cabinet that a drastic drop had been registered in incidents of terrorism this year, as only two cases of targeted killing had been reported in 2020 as compared to 10 such cases the previous year. The police chief also informed the cabinet that the police had conducted 749 encounters, smashed 537 gangs, arrested 8,112 street criminals, 6,504 other criminals and killed 21 dacoits.

The increase in kidnappings and other crimes underscores the need for creating more jobs and for social justice.