Apparently the police seem helpless or hesitant to take any action against the criminals who are so powerful that neither the residents are willing to speak out against them nor the law enforcement personnel are ready to share information with media.
Residents complain of rising theft, robbery, narcotics business and presence of criminals affiliated with banned religious outfits.
“Areas such as Rahim Town and Shakrial that fall in the jurisdiction of Sadiqabad Police Station, have become no-go areas,” said Muhammad Sarwar Satti, a resident of the locality, while talking to The Express Tribune on Sunday.
Referring to the notoriously lawless part of Karachi, he said Sadiqabad had become “the Sohrab Goth of Rawalpindi”.
Satti, who has been pushing authorities to take concrete action against suspected criminals for the past several years, said the situation had turned so bad that residents of the city hesitate to visit their friends and relatives living in Sadiqabad area after sunset.
He said that at night criminals openly roam around in the streets of the area carrying weapons.
“They loot people and a graveyard in the area has become a safe haven for these criminals,” Satti said.
“I do not have the means to shift out from the area,” he said.
Satti said that he had sent a number of e-mails to Punjab chief minister, inspector general of police, regional police officer and Rawalpindi city police officer about the various incidents that had occurred relating to law and order situation in the area but to no avail.
The narrow streets and densely populated area of Shakrial, Rahim Town, Muslim Town and surrounding localities have constantly been under the influence of criminals.
Satti said that a large number of people affected by army’s operation, Zarb-e-Azb in Waziristan had also settled in the area.
“Migration from K-P and various areas of Fata is one of the main reasons behind the lawlessness in the area. Dozens of people have been accommodated by their relatives in each house,” he said.
Satti appeared to be the only one taking a stand for the community as the residents of the area seemed so afraid that they did not even gather for a meeting with this correspondent despite several attempts.
“People do not even share their grievances let alone reporting it to the police,” he said.
“I have been threatened many a times over phone but now things have gone a step ahead. The other day, two young men threatened to kill me at a barber’s shop if I keep reporting crimes to the police,” Satti said.
Police’s failure to establish pickets at Rahim Town and Shakrial, introduction of patrol in the area, compilation of data of all the residents and to take action against the criminals despite promises have led to an increase in crimes in the last two years, he says.
“Nothing has been done and the crime rate has increased manifolds,” Satti said.
Residents asked where the agencies were who were responsible for protecting the lives and property of the people.
They said that the number of intelligence agencies had increased but there was no reciprocal decrease in the crime rate.
The number of FIRs in Sadiqabad Police Station crossed 1,200 mark in October this year with several unique entries.
One of the cases, concerns Muhammad Nadeem who was deprived of cash, mobile phone and other valuables by four armed motorcyclists when he was heading home on September 11.
But it did not end here.
When he went to the Sadiqabad police station, he was asked to come to the station for three consecutive days and then the robbery offence was converted into theft case.
It took almost a month to lodge a case with correct sections and that too only after the City Police Officer, Humayun Bashir Tarar, intervened in the matter.
In another incident, on November 10, two police constables were killed and two others were injured when unidentified men riding on a motorcycle fired on them while they were stationed outside an Imambargah within the limits of the police station.
The men managed to escape, even though the incident happened on one of the busiest roads in Sadiqabad.
The culprits are still at large even after a month despite the police having sketches of the suspected killers.
On December 6, the police arrested a suspected terrorist of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) belonging to North Waziristan and seized explosives, nine detonators and wires from him in a raid near Khanna Pul.
Though the case did not fall in Rawalpindi police’s jurisdiction yet the residents suspect his links would be in Sadiqabad area as a large number of settlers, including scavengers belonging to Afghanistan could be spotted in Sadiqabad.
The CPO and SHO of the Sadiqabad Police Station could not be reached despite repeated attempts for weeks. Messages and contact numbers were left for them because of their engagement in ‘meetings’ but they did not respond.
Ombudsman’s finding
In the findings of an application filed in November 2013, Punjab Ombudsman Javed Mahmood had stated that “the complaint reflects the fear and mental agony which the common people suffer due to increasing street crimes and robberies.”
The ombudsman had directed the provincial home secretary and police chief to devise some strategy in the light of the realities on the ground to curb the ever increasing menace of street crimes, robberies and abductions for ransom before situation goes out of control.
Satti said that nothing had so far been done in the area even after the passage of a year.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2014.
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