Law and order: CM says this is just the beginning of war

Law enforcers ordered to rework their security strategies.

KARACHI: This is not the end of the war, just the beginning, said Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah.

"We are full of optimism that this war against the militants will end and there will be peace, progress and prosperity for the people," he said at a law and order meeting in a committee room of the Sindh Secretariat on Tuesday. He added that law enforcers should be well-equipped and develop an improved system to share intelligence information to stop militant attacks before they take place.

Law Enforcement Agencies were also ordered to rework their security strategies and prepare fool-proof security plans. According to the chief minister, the Sindh government had been receiving threats since the federal government started negotiating with the militants.

He appreciated all that the LEAs and the Airport Security Force did during the operation against militants when they attacked Jinnah International Airport. He added that soon the Sindh police will have bulletproof vehicle helmets, more APCs, and other security equipment to fight militants.

While talking about the people who lost their lives in the fire at the cold storage, the chief minister said that it was the responsibility of the Civil Aviation Authority to extinguish the fire. Instead, he claimed, that when he visited the site last night he deployed the forces and fire brigades to extinguish the fire to expedite the rescue operation.

The chief secretary of Sindh, Sajjad Saleem Hotiyana, discussed the efforts made in the cold storage rescue operation. He said that he also participated in the operation but due to the chemicals inside, the fire could not be extinguished immediately.

Also at the meeting was Rangers DG, Major Gen. Rizwan Akhtar who said that the militants were killed at the initial stage of the attack - within a few hours. The DG added that their DNA would be used to identify them.

IG Sindh, Iqbal Mehmood, said that the overall law and order situation in the country was under control. He added that the target killing numbers were going down day by day.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2014.