KARACHI, Aug 5: Sindh Home Secretary Brig Mukhtar Ahmed (retd) said here on Monday that Karachi Central Prison would not be shifted in the immediate future.
Replying to a question at a meeting with members of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the Federation House, the home secretary said preparations to shift the Central Prison were under way and the consultants had been asked to submit their report.
“We need to build more infrastructure,” he said.
He agreed with the questioner that conditions in Karachi Central Prison were not satisfactory. He said there were more than 5,250 inmates in the prison against its capacity for 900 inmates.
He appreciated the role of the private sector in improving conditions in the prison.
GANGS BUSTED: The Sindh government has busted nine terrorist organizations and arrested several alleged terrorists involved in bomb blasts, killing of doctors and other acts of terrorism, said Sindh Home Secretary Brig Mukhtar Ahmed (retd) here.
At a meeting with members of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) at the Federation House, he said the provincial government had eliminated various terrorists gangs, operating in Karachi.
“We have arrested Akram Lahori, and achieved success in the Daniel Pearl case and the US consulate bomb blast,” he said, adding that police were pursuing those responsible for the bomb blast in which Frenchmen were killed.
Many terrorists had made confessions and terrorists were no longer operating in an organized manner due to increased surveillance in Karachi, he said.
The home secretary said the government had put in a lot of resources for maintenance of law and order. Funds had been shifted to law and order from development projects, he added.
He said the Sindh government had set up a new organization, Crime Investigation Department, for which a big amount of money had been earmarked.
He said security had been tightened at all roundabouts and public places. Besides posting police in uniform, the government had deployed plainclothed personnel to keep an eye on criminal activities.
He urged industrialists and businessmen of the city to cooperate with the government in maintaining law and order.
The home secretary also urged businessmen to convince their foreign friends that there was no extraordinary situation as regards law and order in Pakistan.
“The law and order situation in other countries is worse than what it is in Pakistan, but no foreigner is fleeing from there,” he said.
He said aliens were also involved in criminal activities in the city, so the government had initiated registration process of aliens working in factories and homes. About two million aliens were living in the country.
Talking about snap check of vehicles in the city, he said this check would be intensified.
He said people’s lives were more important than the inconvenience caused by snap checks.
“We would try to minimize the inconvenience to people.”—APP
