Those who terrorised Karachi won’t be forgiven: Rangers DG

KARACHI: Sindh Rangers Director-General Major General Muhammad Saeed has emphasised that forces working against the interests of the country would not be tolerated, Geo News reported.

Major General Saeed also said “those who terrorised Karachi” will not be forgiven. The DG Rangers said street criminals and robbers should be tried as terrorists under the Anti-Terrorism Act. "Their mentality cannot be overlooked. We cannot let them pick up weapons."

“Forces operating against Pakistan will neither be tolerated and nor will the Rangers allow any party to create a target-killer wing,” said Major General Saeed while addressing senior journalists on Wednesday. He said no one would be allowed illegal use of weapons “There has been a noticeable decrease in crime within four years of Karachi operation,” he said. “No incident of terrorism has been reported in 2017.”

The DG said that while between Rs80 and 100 million was paid in extortion before 2013, in the current year, only four incidents of extortion have been reported. He added in 2017, no terrorism-related incident took place in Karachi. "Fifty-five people were made victims of target killings in 2017. Militant organisation Ansarul Sharia was involved in 15 of the incidents," the director general said. Citing the city’s crime statistics for the current year, the DG Rangers said only four incidents of extortion were reported this year, while the paramilitary force handed over more than 1,400 criminals to the police. “Karachi ranked sixth in the crime index in 2013, and now lies at the nottom 52nd position on the same index,” DG Ranger told journalists.

A day earlier, the top Rangers officer had said that “improved peace” in the city is a testament to the fact that the Karachi operation had yielded noticeably positive results. Speaking during a visit to the Bahria University, Major General Saeed said the paramilitary force is taking every possible measure to improve the peace and security situation and that the Karachi operation will continue till “its objectives are achieved.”