Meeting on controlling Katcha areas today

LAHORE: A meeting to control hardcore criminals of Katcha areas of District Rajanpur on the border of Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh will be held on Thursday at the Federal Ministry of Interior Islamabad Secretariat.

According to ministry sources, high officials including secretaries, inspectors general and representatives of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI) and Counterterrorism Department (CTD)

will attend the meeting. They will present their recommendations to control the law and order situation on the borders of the three provinces. The officials will discuss amendments to Code of Criminal Procedure.

The Katcha areas have become no go areas and since 2002, many operations were conducted but required results were not obtained by the law-enforcement agencies. The hardcore criminals, residents of Katcha areas, belong to Punjab and go to Sindh and Balochistan as operation starts, said a high official in the ministry of Interior. The police cannot arrest them immediately because of the barrier of territorial jurisdiction. According to the sources, if the police want to conduct a raid in another province, the district police officer (DPO) of Rajanpur asks for approval. During this process, the DPO refers the matter to the inspector general Legal Punjab to fulfill legal requirements for crossing the inter-provincial border. The IG, after probing the legality of the matter, seeks permission from the Home Department Punjab. Then the Home Department Punjab writes to the Home Department Sindh and KP. Thus the legal process takes long time to arrest the hardcore criminals. During this time, the criminals change their hideouts and go to another province. The facilitators provide them with weapons and ration.

The meeting will discuss the routes from where the criminals escape, and the recruitment of 500 personnel for Special Katcha Force. The availability of modern weapons with the criminals and providing latest weapons to the police of the three provinces will also be discussed. The joint efforts of the law-enforcement agencies of the three provinces to curb the BLA and criminal activities will also be discussed in the meeting.