Home minister claims successes in operations in riverine area

Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar on Monday claimed that the provincial police had achieved successes in their operations against bandits in the riverine area.

Addressing a press conference at the Central Police Office (CPO), he said the successes achieved by the police were the result of their hard work and best strategy. He assured the media that in case of organised crimes in any area, the relevant district officer would be held responsible. He added that an award of Rs500,000 had been announced for the East SSP and his team for their excellent performance in an encounter with criminals on Sharea Faisal.

Lanjar said the Sindh Police had been performing well during the Muharram events, and in this regard, talks had also been held with the K-Electric to prevent load-shedding for three days during Muharram.

He explained that a notorious dacoit, Amjad Bhayo, involved in the kidnapping of important personalities of the Hindu community, had finally been killed, which had sparked a wave of happiness in the Hindu community who also chanted slogans in favour of the Sindh police.

The Sindh government had fixed a bounty of Rs5 million on Bhayo’s head, the home minister remarked. He said that so far, 80 to 100 suspects had surrendered arms in the Kutcha area. Lanjar praised the Sindh police’s boxer Shahir Khan Afridi for winning the title against India in a boxing competition and announced a prize of Rs1 million for him.

Earlier, Sindh Inspector General of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon explained the press conference’s agenda saying that the security of around 40,000 personalities associated with the Bohra community from other countries was being ensured at the provincial level, and police were taking all measures under a comprehensive security plan in this regard.

He added that under the Muharram arrangements, the security of 4,135 processions across the province had been ensured with the deployment of over 50,000 police personnel, and as part of the security plan, police personnel had been deployed in various districts since the first of Muharram.

Regarding police performance against crime, the Sindh police chief said that since the last four months, police operations against the drug mafia and drug dealers had been under way at a fast pace, during which over 300 suspects had been arrested. He said there were around 575 drug dealers operating in Karachi, against whom 4,760 cases had been registered.

In the ongoing year, 72 citizens had so far been killed in Karachi by street criminals during robberies, IGP Memon said, adding that the police had registered 69 cases against the culprits and arrested 65 street criminals. Similarly, he said, a total of 471 police encounters took place in the last four months, and significant successes had been achieved against dacoits in the Kutcha areas.

He explained that major successes in the riverine operations included the killing of notorious dacoit Teeghani and arrest of a dacoit in Ranipur, as well as the killing of a dacoit in Naushero Feroz. He said that the East Police had done commendable work against crime, under which a major drug dealer was killed in an encounter within the limits of the Sharea Faisal police station.

The CTD police had also arrested a terrorist planning terrorism in Muharram due to their excellent intelligence, the police chief remarked. He said improving the environment of police stations was his priority, and his target for this year was to improve around 100 police stations.

The Sindh police had 484 police stations, and each police station was being made financially autonomous by providing them with a regular budget, he said. IGP Memon said that practical steps were being taken to modernise the investigation department according to the requirements of the modern era, and in this regard, the Sindh government had been providing full support and assistance.

An amount of Rs500 million had been allocated for the investigation department, he said, adding that under the health insurance scheme, police personnel would be given Rs1 million each for medical treatment. The Safe City Project had been launched to ensure the safety of the city, he said.