71 POs killed in 171 police encounters in six months

LAHORE : At least 71 proclaimed offenders (POs) were killed in 171 armed confrontations with Punjab police across the province in six months, The News learnt.

According to the statistics available with The News, in the armed confrontations, 107 POs were injured and arrested as well. Abdul Majeed Ladi was involved in heinous crimes like murders, robberies, kidnapping for ransom and rapes. He was PO in 23 cases and head money of Rs 2 million were fixed for him. He was killed during an armed confrontation with police.

Aqib alias Aaqi Mullah was notorious for kidnapping and robbery and was killed during an armed confrontation with police. Aftab Hussain, son of Muhammad Hussain, was involved in a terrorist attack on police personnel. He had martyred two policemen. He was killed by police.

Nasir Shafaat, who had injured a police officer and fired shots at Kahuta sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), was killed by police during an armed confrontation. Latif alias Tifa, son of Bashir Ahmed, was involved in 44 cases of kidnapping for ransom, murder, robberies, rape and extortions. He was killed by Punjab police during an armed confrontation. Shahbaz alias Lamba, son of Akbar Ali, was involved in 43 cases of kidnapping for ransom, murder, robberies, rape and extortions. He was killed by police in an armed confrontation between police and the PO. Hardened POs involved in kidnapping for ransom, murder, robberies, rape and extortions were arrested by Punjab police during the six months. Arshad Zaman Langra was involved in 55 cases. He was arrested by police after reconnaissance. Imtiaz alias Taji Khokhar involved in 15 cases was arrested by police. Mazhar alias Majhu was involved in 12 cases of heinous crimes and was arrested by police. Zeeshan alias Shani was arrested by police after many attempts. He is involved in five cases of heinous crimes. Wali Jan was arrested by police. He was involved in four cases of heinous crimes. Sohail Akhtar Sukhera, deputy inspector general (DIG) Operations Punjab, said that it was not an easy task to eliminate and arrest the POs as they were equipped with sophisticated weapons. During armed confrontations, eight police officials were martyred and 35 injured. According to him, Inspector General of Police Punjab Shoaib Dastgir took some steps and he wanted to see Punjab free from crime.

IG Shoaib Dastgir has issued strict orders to arrest the criminals to provide relief to the people of Punjab, he stated.