Criminals on the run, crime rate falls drastically

ISLAMABAD: Incidents of target killings in Karachi has come to a complete halt ever since the Rangers’ raid on Nine Zero, claim police and Rangers sources and confirm independent and informed observers.
These sources said that extortion (Bhatha) in the city has also reduced drastically while street crimes also saw a steep decline amid reports that the Rangers’ raid on Nine Zero has sent a strong message to the criminal elements and mafia.
“They are on the run,” a senior Karachi-based journalist said, adding that it is wrong to suggest that the Karachi operation is focused against any particular party or group. He said that hundreds of those criminals, who have been killed by police during recent months, mostly belong to proscribed religious outfits, criminal gangs, dacoits etc.
The Nine Zero raid and the arrest of convicted murderers and alleged target killers, he said, has actually conveyed to all and sundry the seriousness of the Karachi operation against criminals irrespective of their party affiliations and without any fear and favour.
A senior Rangers official told this correspondent on Thursday evening that the Nine-Zero raid had extraordinary impact on checking crimes in Karachi. It is said that owing to this situation, the Karachi’ites in general are quite happy.
Inspector General Police Karachi Ghulam Jamali when approached agreed that the Rangers’ raid had tremendous impact on checking crimes in the city. He, however, pointed out that the recent performance of police, Rangers and other agencies had already almost eliminated serious crimes like target killings, kidnapping for ransom, terrorism and robberies both in Karachi and in other parts of the province.
In February this year IG Sindh while talking to The News had claimed that during the last few months, over 700 hardened target killers, terrorists, criminals, kidnappers, dacoits, etc, had been killed in police encounters, which led to a remarkable improvement in the law and order situation in the province, including Karachi.
The police chief added that the killing of over 700 hardened criminals and terrorists, including TTP and LeJ men, target killers, dacoits and criminals during the last few months had such an impact that during this period, except in Shikarpur, no terrorism incident occurred in the province. He added that the target killings in Karachi had reduced from an average of 6-7 persons to 2.5-3 persons per day in February. The cases of kidnapping for ransom, which were 23 in Karachi and 45 in the interior Sindh when he took over, had been brought down to two cases each in Karachi and Sindh.
As per the IG’s claim, the target killing, which was 2.5-3 persons per day in the last month, has been reduced to nil after the Rangers’ latest raid.When asked about the future of Karachi, a security official source said that the situation would further by a neural, impartial and across the board operation against criminal elements. The source said that both the federal government and the military establishment are sincere to continue with this operation.
The security sources don’t opendly say that the Sindh government is not cooperative but there is surely some discontentment over the attitude of top PPP leadership. It was announced that all no-go areas should be cleared without any exception but the Sindh government is reluctant to remove police barricades from around Bilawal House, Karachi.