A debate continues in social and political circles of Sindh about the chances and the degrees of the success of the operation announced by the caretaker government against the dacoits in the riverine areas on the Sindh-Punjab border.
The riverine area, popularly known as katcha, because the land along the river cannot be leased so there is no pakka kaghazh or lease title, remains under illegal occupation of criminals and influential landlords.
The Kandhkot area of Larkana division has been the most affected by dacoits. Recently, nine people of the same house, including five children were killed while playing with a rocket shell in a village near Kandhkot.
A few days before that incident, a dangerous and influential gang of dacoits had stopped the construction of the Kandhkot-Ghotki Bridge.
According to former IG Police Ghulam Nabi Memon, the construction of the said bridge over the Indus River was very important for the complete elimination of gangs of robbers. Talking to Express Tribune he said that the movement of dacoits from Kundhkot to Ghotki will decrease after the construction of the said bridge due to easy deployment of police and law enforcement personnel.
According to Memon, just as a few years ago, robberies in the Khairpur area had ended with the construction of the Khairpur-Larkana Bridge on the Indus River. Similarly, the construction of Kandhkot-Ghotki Bridge will also increase the movement of police in the mentioned areas and robberies will decrease. It should be noted that this area of Larkana Division has been the center of robberies for some time now.
Home Minister Brig (retired) Haris Nawaz has said in the Apex Committee meeting held last month that 220 incidents of kidnapping for ransom took place in Sindh province this year in which 128 incidents of abduction took place only in these areas of Larkana division.
According to former IG Police Ghulam Nabi Memon, it would have been better if the operation had been conducted on the basis of high intelligence. According to him, intelligence-based operations are more likely to succeed.
He said that during his tenure, actions were taken against dacoits based on information and many famous dacoits including Salto Shar were arrested or killed.
According to the spokesperson of Sindh Chief Minister Abdul Rasheed Chana, the probability of success of the operation against dacoits was very high despite the announcement of the operation because robberies are limited to these areas of Sindh and Punjab which are called the katcha areas of the Indus River.
It has happened in the past that if action was taken against dacoits in Sindh province, they would flee to the katcha area of Punjab and take shelter while this time it will not happen because the operation was being started against them in both provinces simultaneously.
He said that drone technology will also be used against robbers. For this reason, the probability of success of the operation against dacoits this time was high. It should be noted that it was decided in a recent meeting between caretaker chief minister of Punjab Mohsin Naqvi and caretaker chief minister of Sindh Justice Retired Maqbool Baqir to conduct a joint operation against robberies in both provinces.
To a question, Chana said that the police will necessarily be involved in the operation against dacoits. When he was asked that the Sindh police has been complaining that they do not have military grade weapons to fight robbers, he said police will get everything they want.
Channa reminded that the provincial government has made a formal request with the Centre to allow purchase of military grade weapons for the Sindh police.
Muhammad Afzal, a resident of Jacobabad, told The Express Tribune that police face difficulty in chasing robbers who now even hide in villages among thousands of people. It would be catastrophic to engage dacoits in gun battle near and around the villages due to fear of civilian casualties, Afzal said.
He said that surgical action against robbers in the said area was very important because decoits have made life difficult for the nearby citizens.
People are abducted every day while several Hindu citizens have been kidnapped for ransom in the past few months.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2023.
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