Up for discussion: Govt admits increasing extortion incidents

Claims victory in fighting other crimes as assembly discusses law and order .

PESHAWAR:

When the province’s law and order was discussed in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday, the government acknowledged that during its rule, incidents of grenade attacks and extortion have increased, but it also claimed that other crimes had decreased.

In response to an adjournment motion presented by Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) leader Sikandar Sherpao, Minister for Public Health Engineering Shah Farman told the house the number of suicide attacks, bomb blasts and vehicle-borne attacks has decreased during the current year as compared to the past two years.

According to the minister, the fact that parties which were under attack when they were in the government are now holding open public gatherings is an indicator of improving law and order under the PTI-led government.



Presenting some statistics in the house to support his claim, Farman said suicide attacks have reduced to 10 in 2014 from 21 and 18 in 2013 and 2012, respectively. Similarly, 218 bomb attacks have been reported in K-P so far when there were 284 and 271 such attacks in 2013 and 2012, respectively.

“Vehicle-borne attacks have decreased to three during the current year as compared to six in each of the past two years,” claimed Farman. “However, the deteriorating law and order issue is not specific to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; the entire country is facing the repercussions of the military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas,” said the minister.

Earlier, when raising the motion, QWP’s Sikandar Sherpao informed the house a total of 109,449 crimes were reported this year between January 1 and October 15. According to Sherpao, 520 terror attacks, 291 extortion cases and 831 car theft cases were also reported during this period.

“Law and order is the fundamental right of citizens and is the provincial government’s responsibility,” stated Sherpao. Awami National Party’s Mian Jaffer Shah added the situation was deteriorating every day and the government should not hide the facts and go into a defensive mode.

On a point of order, opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman also raised the issue of the deteriorating law and order. According to Rehman, incidents of extortion have risen by 900%, terrorism by 30%, kidnapping by 44% and crimes against women by 40%.

“Educated and well-off people of K-P are migrating to other provinces,” stated Rehman.

The opposition leader also touched upon the subject of increasing cases of polio, saying the situation can lead to international restrictions on Pakistan.

Rehman also condemned police violence against IPDs in Bannu a couple of weeks ago.

LG polls

Moreover, during Monday’s session, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Inayatullah Khan informed the house the government was planning to hold local government (LG) elections by the end of April next year.

In response to a question, Khan said the Election Commission of Pakistan expressed its inability to conduct LG polls under biometric system before December 2015. Therefore, the provincial government has decided to go to the polls without the technology.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2014.