Wanted: dead or alive: With no money, criminal heads keep rolling in Karachi

A high-profile list of criminals is still waiting for the Sindh government's approval.


Sohail Khattak September 15, 2014

KARACHI: Around eight months ago, a list was handed over to the provincial home department by the Karachi police.

This was no ordinary list. It had the names of 450 high-profile criminals and militants, the police believe were involved in creating unrest in the city. Corresponding to these names were five to seven digit figures which were set as head money.

The list which includes names of people affiliated with political and religious parties was prepared by the former chief of the Karachi police, Shahid Hayat, and The Express Tribune learnt, it still hasn't been approved by the relevant authorities.

Along with militants, the list also includes names of alleged Lyari gangsters and known target killers.

Several of the criminals mentioned in the list are wanted for more than one hundred murders.

The police had planned to write letters to political parties demanding that they surrender their target killers and if they refused, the police would release their photos, names to the media and announce a hefty bounty.

Four of the criminals on the list were killed in the ongoing Karachi operation but since no head money had been approved or announced, the police teams did not receive any special rewards.

"The criminals take their revenge. They never let the opportunity of killing a policeman slip out of their hands," said a police official who did not want to be named. "The policemen have no incentive. Why would somebody jeopardise his life by providing you with information about a target killer if he isn't getting any reward?" He added that the police place head money on high-profile criminals to accelerate the process of finding the bad guy.

The police official claimed that it usually improves police intelligence and performance in targeted operations but the Sindh government is just sitting on the list doing nothing.

"The government wants the police to sacrifice themselves," he said. "But they are hesitant in using their money for an effective operation and rewarding the police for putting their lives on the line.”

AIG Ghulam Qadir Thebo, however, said that the head money had yet to be approved and would have a good impact on the Karachi operation.

"We have not received a single rupee or equipment needed for the operation from the federal government," he said. "The provincial government only provided us with the secret service fund last year and 2,000 retired army personnel. We received nothing special or extra for the ongoing targeted operation."

The secret service fund, he explained, is distributed by the Karachi police chief among the police personnel for their extra ordinary performance in the operation. Thebo claims that it was not released in the current financial year.

Along with the head money, Thebo said, they had also asked for scanners to be installed at check posts at entry and exit points in the city to restrict and monitor movement of criminals. He added that so far the provincial government had done nothing about that either.

Thebo mentioned that not only was he short of men, they did not have enough weapons, bulletproof vests, armoured personnel carriers (APCs), police mobiles and several other things needed to do their job.

After officially taking charge as Sindh IG, Ghulam Hyder Jamali wrote a letter to the provincial government asking for an additional 11,000 policemen - including 1,000 retired soldiers, APCs, bulletproof vests, guns and motorcycles for improving their performance in the Karachi operation.

The government responds

According to the chief minister's special assistant, Waqar Mehdi, the Sindh government has financed the Karachi police in the ongoing operation and has provided them with funds for everything they needed and asked for. "It is the duty of the police department to install scanners and establish check posts," he said while talking to The Express Tribune. "We gave them three billion rupees for the APCs and there is a case going on about it in court." He added that he had no updates on the head money and criminal list approvals.

He claimed that the provincial government had asked the Centre for more funds for the Karachi operation but had not received any as yet.

The Sindh home department's secretary Dr Niaz Abbasi was not available for comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2014.

COMMENTS (1)

ishrat salim | 9 years ago | Reply

This culture need CHANGE too...insha Allah it will come.

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