By Salis bin Perwaiz
Sindh’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) chief Omar Shahid Hamid, who is also the chairman of a committee that fixes reward money, has moved a summary to the provincial government for fixing reward money for 28 notorious criminals.
Talking to The News on Wednesday, DIG Hamid confirmed moving the summary for approval to the home department. Officials said that a few months, during a meeting with government officials, including those of the home department, an issue was raised regarding rules about reward money being complicated and it was decided that the rules would be reviewed and changed.
The rules call for two committees for approval of reward money. In this regard, a meeting was held with Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in the chair, in which it was highlighted that the post of the Sindh CTD’s additional IG, who was also the chairman of the committee to fix reward money, had been abolished.
The CM was also informed that the last meeting in this regard had been held in 2017, and since then no such meeting had taken place to fix reward money for notorious criminals.
The chief minister had ordered the home department to purse the issue and resolve it on a priority basis. After the meeting, it was decided that only one committee would work on reward money, and that the committee would consist of six members – the chairman would be DIG CTD Sindh while the members would be SSP Operations CTD, DIG Special Branch, the relevant range’s DIG and one official each from the Intelligence Bureau and the ISI.
DIG Hamid said he had written a letter on Wednesday to the Sindh government after the provincial committee on rewards and head money met on Tuesday under his chairmanship.
This committee met after more than two years and it forwarded recommendations to the home department, through the inspector general, for the release of reward/head money in 22 cases, where criminals had been killed or captured by Rangers or police personnel.
The criminals included Ghaffar Zikri, Khair Bux alias Khairoo and Dadoo Sabzoi, and a total amount recommended for release in rewards is Rs37 million. Additionally, the committee has also recommended fixing head money on 28 notorious criminals, including Lado Teghani, who was involved in the murder of police officers. A total amount of Rs36.5 million has been recommended as head money on these criminals.