CM gives police 15 days to eliminate criminals

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed the law enforcement agencies to speed up targeted operations against terrorists and purge the city of street criminals through coordinated efforts. He gave the city police 15 days to launch aggressive operations against street criminals.

The chief minister issued these orders while presiding over a meeting on the law and order situation at his office on Thursday. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Director General Rangers Major General Azhar Waqas, IG Police Ghulam Nabi Memon, PSCM Fayaz Jatoi, Additional IG CTD Imran Yakoob, Additional IG Special Branch Khadim Rind and provincial heads of intelligence agencies.

In his opening remarks, the CM pointed out two major threats: terrorist outfits and street criminals. The banned outfits pose a standing threat; therefore an effective and intelligence-based operation must be launched against them, he added.

He said that street criminals have created fear among the citizens of Karachi, though their numbers are not so high that they cannot be crushed. “I want the police and Rangers to work out a plan to launch an operation against them [street criminals] and ensure deployment of their forces at the hot-spots which are very much identified,” he added.

The chief minister was informed that the banned outfits were not strong enough in the province, but vigilance on their movement would further be intensified. In consultation with the participants, CM developed close coordination among all the intelligence agencies, including police, so that timely “sensitive information” could be shared for a prompt action.

The chief minister said that street criminals have killed seven people in the month of December alone. “This is unacceptable and a challenge to the government; therefore, I want the police and Rangers to work together to eliminate this menace,” he said.

The meeting decided to deploy police force at the hotspots of street criminals. The gangs operating in the city would be busted through a joint operation by police and the Rangers. The meeting was informed that during 2022, as many as 2,258 police encounters with terrorists and street criminals took place. As many as, 1,259 gangs were busted, 16,612 criminals arrested and 204 were killed.

The chief minister decided to keep vigilance at the exit and entry points of the city and the province, so that criminals’ movement could be checked. He gave 15 days to the city police to launch aggressive operations against the street criminals, saying that the results would be assessed in a review meeting.

It was pointed out that various illegal immigrants were coming to Karachi, but they were being returned on a regular basis. The chief minister said that he would take up the issues of illegal immigrants with the federal government, so that they could be stopped at the borders.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 23^rd, 2022.