Fighting crime: Call CPLC youth when you get mugged

Sindh DIG operations Usman Ghani says FIA also has a desk dealing with cyber crime

KARACHI:

We want to encourage citizens to go to the authorities and register complaints rather than shying away from them or being afraid, said the chief of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), Ahmed Chinoy.

"Around 80 per cent of crime goes unreported," he said. "Apart from setting up 29 CPLC centres in 29 districts of Sindh, we want people to have the confidence to step out and report their complaints without having any reservations."



Chinoy was speaking at the launch of the CPLC Youth Helpline, a collaborative effort by the CPLC and Youth Parliament, at the Marriott hotel on Wednesday.

During the presentation, the CPLC used visuals to show what areas they will be focusing on. The helpline, they said, can be used to lodge complaints about robberies, muggings, extortion, kidnappings and domestic violence against women.

The event was chaired by the founder of the Youth Parliament Rizwan Jaffar and was attended by Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, Ziauddin University vice-chancellor Dr Pirzada Qasim, scientist Dr Attaur Rahman and Karachi Station Commander Brig Farrukh Waseem.

In addition to setting up a help centre for petty crimes, the CPLC also laid the foundation for a cyber crime complaint wing. "It has been functional for a while now," said Chinoy. "Over a year ago, we received complaints from several university students and have successfully resolved them."

While discussing cyber crimes, Sindh DIG Operations Usman Ghani said that the Federal Investigation Agency also had a desk dealing with cyber crime. Responding to a question on the failure of the police officials in registering an FIR, Ghani said that it was the citizens' responsibility to take their complaint and report it to another official and not stop till it was done.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2014.