Governor orders CPLC’s review to increase domain of responsibilities

Sindh’s governor has directed the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) to constitute an advisory board at the earliest, saying that efforts should also be made for increasing the committee’s domain of responsibilities to effectively combat crimes across Karachi.

Mohammad Zubair issued the directives during a top-level meeting at the Governor House on Thursday. CPLC chief Zubair Habib, Sindh police chief IGP AD Khowaja, Home Secretary Qazi Shahid Pervez, Principal Secretary to Governor Saleh Farooqui and other senior officials attended the meeting.

The governor was briefed about the role and charter of responsibilities of the CPLC in combating crimes in the city while using latest technologies, including the system of closed-circuit surveillance cameras.

Zubair stressed an urgent need for a fresh review of the CPLC’s responsibilities so as to expand its domain of responsibilities and make the committee more functional in combating crimes of different types being committed across the city.

He said the government would provide the utmost support to the CPLC so it could more actively perform its duties in the most effective manner to combat crimes and provide the necessary assistance to law enforcement agencies.

The governor said the CPLC’s review of its responsibilities should be conducted on a preferential basis, adding that the committee could play an important role in establishing cooperation between the city’s people and the police force to fight crimes.

Such cooperation between the police force and people should be devolved to the basic level of police stations to ensure effective law enforcement, including combating crimes, he said.

The governor said organisations such as the CPLC had been playing an important role ever since the present government launched a targeted operation against terrorists and other criminals in the city.

He said that owing to the government’s efforts and the services provided by agencies such as the CPLC, the city’s condition had become most favourable to host more business and industrial activities.

Zubair said that after curbing terrorist and high-profile criminal activities since the launch of the Karachi operation, the government was now working with complete focus and commitment to counter street crime in the city.

CPLC chief Zubair Habib informed the governor that the committee had been maintaining the record of first information reports of crimes registered at police stations, data of stolen motorcycles and motor vehicles and information pertaining to prisoners.

Habib said the CPLC provided assistance in cases of people who were taken into custody without any grounds, adding that the committee also provided assistance in kidnapping for ransom cases, FIR registrations, threatening phone calls, burglary incidents, investigation of robberies and verification of prospective employees of various companies.

He said the CPLC helped maintain data of snatched or stolen motor vehicles, motorcycles and mobile phones, as well as provided relevant information to the people, adding that a CPLC office had been set up in Jamshoro this month, while soon another would be established in Sukkur.

Zubair meets mayor

The governor also met Mayor Wasim Akhtar at the Governor House, where the former said work would soon be started on new development projects in the city under the federal government’s newly announced Rs25 billion Karachi development package. He said new development projects under the Karachi package would be related to water supply, drainage, road infrastructure and communication, health and other important socio-economic sectors.

He said the Governor House had been hosting a series of consultative sessions with stakeholders to seek feedback on civic, municipal and developmental problems of the city. He said the Centre was spending Rs75 billion to build and improve civic infrastructure in the city.