Chief MInister Qaim Ali Shah. PHOTO: EXPRESS
A day after a complete shutdown in the megacity, the Sindh government decided to introduce legislation to put an end to frequent violent strikes which whip up fear among Karachiites.
At the same time, a massive reshuffle was ordered in the Karachi police, while another shake-up is likely to follow within a few days.
The chief minister, Qaim Ali Shah, directed the provincial law department to prepare the draft law proposing strict punishments for arsonists and rioters. “We’ll get the bill passed in the Sindh Assembly session [scheduled to begin on September 18],” he said during a high-level meeting on law and order.
In the police department shake-up, 18 top officers – including the city police chief and three zonal deputy inspectors general (DIGs) – have been replaced. The paramilitary Rangers and police, meanwhile, continued their surgical operations in different neighbourhoods of the metropolis.
Rangers’ officials told The Express Tribune that they have detained 30 suspects, including extortionists and kidnappers, and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition in raids in Naseerabad, Pipri, Gafoor Basti, Mehran Town, Dawood Goth, 7-D Surjani Town and New Karachi.
A police spokesperson claimed that they rounded up 152 suspects in 129 raids in different areas of the city. “The police also recovered 49 firearms and five bombs,” he added.
The targeted areas were sealed off before paramilitary and police commandos, armoured vehicles, motorcycle scouts, and policewomen took part in these raids.
The main opposition party in the province, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), decried the ongoing operations and urged human rights organisations to take notice of ‘the illegal arrests’ of its workers.
“We want human rights activists to see what our party is going through. It is only our men who are being whisked away and our offices ransacked,” MQM leader Sagheer Ahmed told a news conference.
He asked the government why the law enforcement agencies were not taking action against militants, extremists, extortionists and other criminals.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2013.
COMMENTS (4)
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Failure to resolve Karachi's structural issues and just concentratingon the law and order aspects is obviously going to fail. One does not need a rocket scientist to predict this. The sindh givernment neither has the competence, the moral authority nor the political right to set things right in Karachi.
Good decision by Sindh Government. Only parties involved in these riots will stand against this bill. Well, making a law is one thing and abiding by it is another. Let's hope that the law be implemented in its true spirit.
Good move by Sindh Government. The parties who are behind the riots will stand against this initiative and will try to discourage it. Making a law is one thing and strictly abiding by it is another. Let's hope it will be implemented in its true spirit.
@ayesha m An article for you, so you can defend it with "its global persecution!" http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/world/asia/altaf-hussains-grip-on-a-pakistani-city-faces-a-threat.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0&pagewanted=all
If you cannot see the truth when it stares you in the face, there is no hope for you.