‘No plan to wind up Rangers operation in Karachi’

PPP leader Nisar Khuhro says delay in extending paramilitary force’s

special policing powers should not be perceived as ending the crackdown

The delay in extending the recently expired special powers of the paramilitary Rangers has fanned rumours that the Karachi operation against criminals and terrorists has been wrapped up. Nisar Khuhro, however, rejected the impression.

Addressing a news conference at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday, the senior Sindh minister assured everyone that the provincial government had no plans to end the operation launched in September 2013.

He said the delay in issuing a notification for empowering the Rangers again should not be perceived as ending the Karachi operation. “The Sindh Rangers have eliminated the feeling of fear and terror in Karachi, and nobody is against extending their powers and stay in the city.”

Accompanied by Social Welfare Minister Shamim Mumtaz, he reassured everyone that the operation was still under way and a notification for extending the paramilitary force’s stay would be issued soon.

Commenting on the Panama Papers issue, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader said the case was being heard by the Supreme Court, which had yet to give judgement in the matter. “But some people are in hurry to send [Prime Minister] Nawaz Sharif home.”

To a question regarding the PPP co-chairman’s alleged decision of not contesting the by-elections, Khuhro said: “These are all rumours because no such decision has been announced by Asif Ali Zardari himself. I do not like to comment on rumours.”

He also said he had written a letter against an official of the Oil & Gas Development Company Limited who held dual nationality, and warned that if no action was taken on his letter, other options of protest could be utilised.

Earlier, the social welfare minister told the media that his department had found in Punjab seven runaway children who had disappeared from different cities and towns of Sindh. She said the children’s custody was handed over to the Child Protection & Welfare Bureau in Lahore until their reunion with their parents could be made possible.

“The Sindh Social Welfare Department is striving hard to locate runaway children of Sindh and reunite them with their parents,” she said. “During the past one year we reunited 35 runaway children with their parents.” The minister hoped that more of the missing children would be located and brought back home in the coming months.

She said the Sindh administration had decided to set up a shelter home for children who had fled their homes due to a variety of reasons. She urged the federal government to devise a mechanism so that runaway children could be traced and reunited with their parents.

“I would also urge people to cooperate with the authorities in tracing missing and runaway children,” she said, adding that any information regarding them could be conveyed on the 112 helpline. Khuhro praised the social welfare minister for her efforts to reunite runaway children with their parents, and said wrong behaviour and attitude of parents often resulted in young children running away from their homes, especially in the rural areas of the country.