President orders holistic approach to uproot crimes in Sindh

President Asif Zardari on Wednesday ordered the Sindh government to adopt a holistic approach in an effort to improve law and order situation in Sindh by launching grand-scale operations to control street crimes in Karachi, purge the riverine areas in upper

Sindh of dacoits as well as the menace of drugs in various parts of the province.

The president chaired a special meeting at the Chief Minister House, attended by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Information Technology Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, key provincial ministers, Rangers Director General Maj-Gen Azhar Waqas and others.

At the meeting, the president received briefings from Chief Minister Shah, Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Memon, Inspector General of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General Zaeem Shaikh on various issues facing the province.

He directed the chief minister to control street crime in Karachi by launching a special operation, and complete the Karachi Safe City project on war footing. He directed for fencing and dualisation of the Northern bypass to make the entry and exit points of the city effective.

To eliminate dacoits from the Katcha areas of Sindh, the president directed the chief minister to intensify the ongoing operation against the dacoits. He also ordered for engaging notables of the area to resolve tribal feuds, so that the social aspect to the issue could also be covered.

The president advised the officials to provide a posting tenure to police officers, and remove those who failed to deliver. On the occasion he also directed Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to take steps for provision of modern weapons and equipment to the Sindh police.

“The operation [in Karachi] must deliver results so that confidence of the citizens could be restored,” he told the meeting. “I have zero tolerance for the illegal occupation of lands [in Kacha areas], and it must be stopped, once and for all,” he added.

Zardari said that it was not hidden from the police that stolen or snatched vehicles and mobile phones were sold in the market in parts. “Why the police were not taking operations against such markets and people involved in this business,” he said.

The president directed that foolproof security of the foreign nationals in Sindh, particularly the Chinese citizens working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)-related projects, must be ensured. He also ordered the provincial authorities to complete roads projects in the Katcha areas.

At the outset of the meeting, Chief Minister Shah briefed the president about the general law and order situation, including the street crime in Karachi, the dacoits factor in the Katcha area and the ongoing operation against the drugs mafia launched by the police and the Rangers.

Shah, while referring to the holding of big events in Karachi, recently, such as the visit of the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and holding of international cricket matches and religious events, said that there was an improvement in the law and order situation.

Highlighting the data provided by IG Memon, the chief minister underscored that Karachi was ranked sixth in the world crime index in 2014, but now that ranking had improved to 82nd in 2024. He also presented data of other major cities where the crime rate was much higher than Karachi.

However, President Zardari emphasised that those cities and countries might have higher crime rates for certain reasons, but stressed that Karachi had a high crime rate without any tangible reasons, which needed to be controlled.

He said that police pickets must be set up on the right bank of the Indus to cover the Katcha area of Shikarpur and Kashmore districts. He also said that anyone involved in the kidnapping cases must be dealt with sternly to set an example for others.

Interior Minister Naqvi told the meeting that security to the engineers working at the Ghotki-Kandhkot Bridge had been provided so that complete work at the earliest. Zardari told the minister to ensure effective coordination for the management of provincial boundaries of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan.

After receiving a briefing from Narcotics Control Minister Sharjeel Memon, the president issued the directive for taking necessary measures to prevent drug penetration into the educational institutions to protect children from this menace.

During the meeting, the president warned that it was not a one-off meeting on the law and order situation, telling the participants that he would review the situation very month. He stressed that the sensitive institutions should support the police in curbing to street crime.

“Provision of modern weapons to the Sindh police will be ensured as soon as possible. I will personally speak with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif about this issue. All resources and facilities will be provided [and in return] I want results from police and Rangers,” Zardari said, according to sources.

A source privy to the meeting details, said that at one point, Zardari asked the Rangers director general about his force’s requirements. On that, according to the source, Maj-Gen Azhar Waqas replied: “All is well, sir.”

Naqvi also informed the president that Rangers had been deployed in Kashmore, as the contractors on that bridge there was afraid of continuing work because the dacoits in the area. The president directed that the IG and DG Rangers to provide full security to the contractors and workers.