‘Missing’ persons: 10,000 men arrested but only 1,600 go to jail

Jail authorities say most suspects have been charged for minor crimes.

KARACHI: The police boast of arresting nearly 10,000 men during the ongoing targeted operation since September but only 1,600 of these men have made it to the city’s jails.

According to senior police official Abdul Khaliq Sheikh, 5,000 criminals held during the operation are being kept in Karachi’s prisons. However, officials of Karachi’s two jails - where the arrested men are being kept - denied the police’s claims.

“Only 1,600 such inmates are present in Karachi’s jail,” said a senior jail official, who wished to remain anonymous. “How could our jails accommodate the 5,000 men of the target operation?” The official failed to understand why the police were quoting such high figures. “We don’t know where the remaining missing men are,” he said.



On the other hand, Sheikh insisted that there were 5,000 inmates in the prisons of Karachi - Karachi Central Jail and district Malir Jail. “The prison officials did not know which accused belonged to the Karachi operation so we don’t know the correct figure,” he explained.

About the other accused of the total 9,944 ‘arrested’ by the police during the target operation, Sheikh said that 3,000 to 4,000 men have been released on bail by the court or released by the police.

Meanwhile, Karachi Central Jail’s Nazeer Hussain Shah said that 900 accused arrested in the ongoing operation are imprisoned.  “Before the operation, the total figure of the inmates was 4,000 which has now risen to 4,900. Most of the criminals arrested are target killers and extortionists.”

In the other jail for male prisoners, district Malir Jail, the accused belonging to the Karachi operation are only 700. The population of the inmates has increased from 2,400 to 3,100 prisoners, said an official Shakir.

According to him, the accused being brought to Malir jail as part of the operation are mostly those held for minor crimes, such as possessing illegal arms. “The influx of these prisoners has now led to overcrowding and congestion in the barracks,” he said. “There are problems. For example, the inmates don’t have much space and have to sleep very uncomfortably.”

While the police have claimed arrests of 9,944 men in the 4,849 raids during the past three months, it has specified the crimes of only a few. In a recent briefing, the police officers told IG Shahid Nadeem Baloch that 3,056 men arrested during the operation were absconders, 269 were proclaimed offenders, 102 terrorists, 61 extortionists, 40 kidnappers. The police had also recently briefed chief minister Qaim Ali Shah, who expressed his satisfaction.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2013.