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Thursday March 28, 2024

Sindh striving hard to implement NAP, says CM

By our correspondents
October 04, 2016

Murad Ali Shah admits much needed to be done to improve prosecution; orders removal of some Ulema from Fourth Schedule

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said his government is striving hard to implement the National Action Plan (NAP) in the province in letter and spirit, and this is the only way to purge the province of terrorism, extortion, kidnappings for ransom and target killings.

This he said while presiding over a meeting at the new Sindh Secretariat to review the implementation of apex committee decisions. The meeting was attended by Adviser to CM on law Murtaza Wahab, Adviser to CM on Information Maula Bux Chandio, Chief Secretary Siddique Memon, IGP AD Khowaja, Advocate General Zamir Ghumro, Home Secretary Riaz Soomro and the law secretary.

The chief minister expressed his satisfaction with progress on NAP in Sindh and said improvement in the prosecution side was much needed. The government was working to enhance the capacity of the police by imparting them with training and equipping them with the latest gadgets and weapons.

He said he would take up the issue of the registration of madrasas in the next NAP meeting. He said there should a national consensus on the issue. He was informed that 2,309 madrasas had been closed.

The meeting was told that the Sindh police had established an anti-terrorism financing unit under the SSP Intelligence of the Counter Terrorism Department.

The IGP, briefing the chief minister, said that under NAP 2,278 cases of violations of the Loudspeaker Act had been registered, against which 1,584 had been arrested. He added that out of 1,195 cases in which charge sheets were present, 260 had been decided. At present, he added, 132 accused were in jail, 980 on bail and 219 had been acquitted.

Talking about illegal Afghans living in Sindh, Khowaja said 1,521 cases had been registered, charge sheets in 1,197 cases of them had been presented in courts, and 198 cases decided. Of 2,768 arrested Afghan nationals, 1,293 are in jail.

He said the spread of hate material was another point of concern, and so far the police had registered 119 cases. Of them, charges sheets in 76 cases had been presented and 16 cases had been decided by courts. Currently, he added. 26 accused were in jail, 13 were on bail and 23 have been acquitted.

In respect of violations of the Arms Act, the IGP said 17,564 cases had been registered, charge sheets had been presented in 16,166 cases and 1,771 of them had been decided. The  police arrested 16,597 suspects under the Arms Act, of them 10,817 were in jail custody, 72 in police custody, 42,68 were on bail and 1576 had been acquitted, the meeting was told.

Giving details of the combing operation, IGP Khowaja said that 3,069 operations -- 1,989 in Karachi, 325 in Sukkur, 610 in Larkana -- had been conducted so far and 4,513 suspects arrested. Currently, 3,193 were in different fails, 889 on bail and 179 had been acquitted.

Giving a presentation on action taken against militias, Khowaja said that 75 cases had been registered, suspects in all of them had been charge-sheeted and five cases had been disposed of. The police had arrested 86 suspects, and 56 of them were in jail and 13 were on bail.

Talking about religious terrorism, he said 165 cases, including 157 in Karachi, had been registered and 95 accused arrested. The police had presented the charge sheets in 120 cases and the courts have disposed of only six.  Currently, 169 terrorists were in jail, 11 on bail and 15 had been acquitted, he said, adding that 116 terrorists of different banned religious outfits were killed in encounters.

With regard to sectarian terrorism, the meeting was told that 159 cases, including 155 in Karachi, were registered and 131 suspects rounded up. Police had framed charges in 114 cases, and courts had disposed of four of the cases so far. Some 21 sectarian terrorists were killed in encounters.

The IGP said the police had registered seven cases of terror financing, and presented charge sheets in six of them. The police arrested 11 accused and all of them were in jail, he added.  

He said the police, under the National Action Plan, had also taken action over wall chalking and registered 546 cases -- 471 in Karachi, 64 in Sukkur and 11 in Larkana. Of 546 cases, charges had been framed in 47 and three had been decided. He said that against wall chalking 78 accused were arrested, of whom were in jail and 50 on bail.

The chief minister held a separate meeting with Corps Commander Karachi Lt-General Naveed Mukhtar, who called on him at the CM House, to discuss progress in implementing the decisions of the apex committee, the law and order situation in the province, security arrangements during the Muharram and ongoing targeted operation in the city.

The corps commander, who is a member of the apex committee constituted under NAP, talked about security-related issues to be discussed in the NAP meeting to be held under Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad.

The Sindh government has held 16 meetings of the apex committee in which important decisions had been taken.  

 Meeting with Ulema

Chief Minister Shah said the maintenance of peace, tranquility and law and order during Muharram, particularly from the 1st to the 10th day of the holy month, was a top priority of his government. Therefore, he said, he had held a number of meetings with Ulema of different schools of thought to develop a consensus on implementing the code of conduct worked out in consultation between religious scholars and the government.

He said he while presiding over a meeting with Shia Ulema at the CM House. The meeting was attended by Dr Qayyum Soomro, IGP AD Khowaja, Additional IG Dr Sanaullah Abbasi, Home Secretary Riaz Hussain Soomro, Allama Abbas Kumeli, Allama Ali Akbar Naqvi, Allama Maqsood Domki, Shabbar Raza, Jafer Turani and others.

The Ulema raised some issues, including prolonged power cuts, dilapidated roads, water shortages and overflowing of sewage, NOCs for new processions and the inclusion of names of some of Ulema in IV Schedule.

The chief minister said that he was going to Islamabad to attend the National Action Plan meeting today, and assured them that he would take up the issue of power outages the with federal minister for water & power and ask him to exempt the cities and towns from electricity cuts from Muharram 1 to 10. 

“I am sure it would be done,” he said and directed the Karachi commissioner to hold a meeting with water board and ensure the provision of water to Majalis and to address the issue of chocked gutters.

He said permission for new processions could not be allowed this Muharram, but from the next Muharram they would be accommodated. “It becomes our ultimate responsibility to provide security to Majalis and processions; therefore, new processions may not be taken out during this Muharram and Inshallah we would adjust them in our security plan in the next Muharram.”

Talking about loudspeakers’ usage, the chief minister said there was no ban on using loudspeakers when a Zakir delivered his sermon, but playing a recorded speech on the tape recorder was not allowed. The Ulema assured the chief minister of their cooperation in this regard.

The chief minister directed his special assistant on religious affairs Dr Qayyum Soomro to coordinate with the Ulema of the Shia community and process some of their recommended names of Ulema to remove them from the IV Schedule list. “We cannot put the names of leading Ulema on Schedule  IV; let them address Majalis,” he said and directed the IGP to take necessary action in the regard.

On the directives of the chief minister, the Religious Affairs Department has set up a coordination/complaint cell with land lines numbers 021-99217343 and 021-99217343 and personal number of Dr Qayyum Soomro 03028551245 to receive complaints.

Thar coal meeting

Chief Minister Shah chaired a coordination committee meeting of Thar Coal Block-II executors and public representatives of the villages of Islamkot Taluka to address their grievances.

The meeting was attended by Special Assistant to CM for Minorities Dr Khatu Mal Jevan, Additional Chief Secretary (dev) Waseem, Secretary Energy Agha Wasif, Secretary Finance Hassan Naqvi and representatives of SECMC.Khatu Mal raised an issue that the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company was releasing water from the mines being dug up in Block-II of Thar Coal at Islamkot into an open area near Gorano Village, and this practice continued water the village’s wells would turn brackish.

The chief minister directed the energy secretary, SECMC and other people concerned to address the grievances of the villagers and provide them a separate RO plant, if necessary.