Afghan Basti: Top officials summoned over rising extortion incidents

CDA chairman, IGP, Islamabad DC to appraise court.

ISLAMABAD:

The capital’s top officials have been called in to explain what efforts have been made to address reports of extortion in an Afghan katchi abadi in the capital.

The inspector general of police (IGP), Islamabad deputy commissioner (DC), and Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman are all due in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on September 9.

The court passed the order in response to a petition filed by Amanullah, an Afghan refugee, who through his counsel alleged that the police, instead of taking action against criminals, have given them a free hand in the area.

He alleged that the police were implicating innocent people in false extortion cases at the behest of influential traders and other rogue elements.

Counsel for the petitioner Advocate Malik Saeed Khan maintained that the Sabzi Mandi police had registered two separate cases against his client and others in July and September, falsely implicating them in extortion cases.

He alleged that influential traders, with the backing of the police and some politicians, extort vendors at gunpoint. The counsel for the petitioner alleged that they have lodged numerous complaints with the senior superintendent of police and the Sabzi Mandi SHO, but no action had been taken against the extortionists, compelling them to approach the court to seek justice.

IHC Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui observed that the Sabzi Mandi area and the Afghan Basti locality has become another Karachi for extortionists, which warranted serious measures to eliminate the menace.

Justice Siddiqui directed IGP Sikandar Hayat, CDA Chairman Nadeem Hassan Asif and DC Amir Ali Ahmed to appear in court in person to appraise the court about the measures the authorities have taken to contain such incidents in the area.

The crime rate in I-11 in Afghan Basti is high as compared to other part of the city and the CDA had decided to carry out a grand operation in January this year against illegal residents, criminals and other rogue elements but the plan was scrapped before it was started.

A survey conducted in January this year by the top civic body in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that some 7,995 individuals comprising 864 families are living in Afghan Basti.

Of the 864 families, 47 are from Punjab, 114 are registered Afghans, 27 non-registered Afghans, 324 families from Mohmand and Bajaur agencies, while 352 families are from different cities of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2013.