Karachi
Sindh police chief AD Khowaja has decided to empower the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) to register cases of terrorism incidents at its own three designated police stations so as to make the fight against terrorists more effective.
The inspector general of police took the decision at a meeting recently held at the Central Police Office where he reviewed progress in investigations into terrorism cases, said Additional Inspector General Sanaullah Abbasi on Tuesday.
Talking to The News, Abbasi, who heads the CTD, said the proposal to authorise the CTD to lodge FIRs of terror attacks was floated in that meeting after the provincial police chief was informed that Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were also following the same process.
Pursuant to the decision, a notification issued by IGP Khowaja on Tuesday said all cases pertaining to sabotage activities, including exploding railway tracks, gas pipelines and electricity towers, suicide bombing (except minor cases of cracker attacks) and target killings of law enforcers would be registered at the CTD police stations and investigations would be conducted by the heads of the police stations.
Additional IG Abbasi said the CTD had one police station each in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur and the police stations had been informed about the amendment related to the FIR registration. He added that his department also needed funds, manpower and other facilities, and IGP Khowaja had held out the assurance that the required money would be delivered to the department after the upcoming budget.
The Counter Terrorism Department has started putting in place the new set-up in phases.
The CTD came into existence last year after approval from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif under the National Action Plan. In the initial phase, the Sindh Police Department had merged the Crime Investigation Department with the CTD and makes procedural changes from time to time.
However, since from its formation, the department had been facing a shortage of funds, and a meeting took place recently at the Chief Minister House where Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had sought a presentation from Abbasi on how to resovle the issue.
During a follow-up meeting at the Chief Minister House, Shah asked the federal government to hand over to Sindh the bomb disposal equipment and vehicles donated by the US and the UK for the province’s police.
Now, the CTD will coordinate with international entities and review laws and suggest amendments to the federal government. It will also appoint a committee of experts from government and non-governmental organisations for deliberations on its mandate and functions.
The department’s vision is to create a multi-disciplinary counterterrorism unit of the highest quality with a strategy to combat and prevent all forms of terrorism. The unit will have mandate against all forms of terrorism as laid down in the 19th amendment and the Anti-Terrorism Act.
To investigate and prosecute cases in anti-terrorism courts and military courts, the department will be called the Counter Terrorism Department, Karachi.
In the recent years, CTD chief Abbasi said, the monster of terrorism had grown in size and complexity, necessitating restricting and upgrading the CTD, which need to raise its own Counter Terrorism Force (CTF).