Following orders: Law Minister claims that crime ratio has gone down

Government officials plan to meet every 20 days to discuss progress.

KARACHI: There is no no-go area in Karachi, said Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro while discussing how the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s suo moto verdict was being followed faithfully. “All the issues pointed out by the court will be resolved soon.”

The provincial law minister’s comments contradicted the statements made by former IG Sindh Police Wajid Ali Durrani, who had confessed that the situation in the city was quite tense. According to Soomro, the provincial government had formed a commission which would be led by retd Justice Zahid Qurban Alvi. He added that Alvi would look into how many people were killed in the targeted attack and compensate their families. “The Sindh home department will prepare a draft which will be sent to all the political parties requesting them to expel the criminals form their ranks,” he said. “Crime takes place everywhere in the world, however, the ratio of crime in the city has reduced.”

The law minister added that the provincial government will hold meetings every 20 days to review the progress on the compliance of the SC verdict. While responding to a question about the commissionerate system, he said that it could not be taken back and that the PPP planned to adopt a new local government act soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th,  2011.