KARACHI: Govt claim of improved law, order contested
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, Nov 17: The Sindh government came under attack on Monday as the Sindh Assembly commenced debate on the prevailing law and order situation.
With Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah in the chair, theTreasury benches generally missed the tangent, some of them even criticized the government for the law and order situation obtaining in the province.
But as the government side drifted in the past, instead of presenting its case by focusing more on present facts and figures, the debate generally appeared to be the same old exercise of settling scores and thus overshadowing facts and missing the point.
The debate was initiated by a former minister for local government Mohammad Hussain who claimed of an improvement in the situation. He gave comparative statistics in support of his argument.
He informed the House that government measures included elimination of criminals’ hide-outs along Sindh-Punjab and Sindh-Balochistan borders and check on the movement of criminals from the hide-outs into Sindh.
He pointed out that 25 check posts had been established at Sindh-Balochistan border, 1,300 policemen deployed in Jacobabad district bordering Balochistan, and procurement of wireless equipment and vehicles for Jacobabad district. He mentioned that the federal government had agreed to provide funds for the procurement of 100 mobile vans and that Rs56 million were being spent on strengthening police force deployed along the Jacobabad-Balochistan border.
Mr Hussain also referred to vehicle checking by police for which, he said, cameras had been installed at various places besides availing the facility of sniffing dogs.
He claimed that security arrangements around Imambargahs, mosques, madressas, foreign missions, foreign diplomats’ residences, and for prominent figures like judges and VIPs and sensitive localities, food chains, etc., had produced better results.
Quoting figures, he said that overall general crimes in Sindh which had been registered in 2002 at 39,799, came down to 36,876 this year.
Crime involving property slumped from 19,075 in 2002 to 16,325 this year whereas accident cases also declined from 1,692 last year to 1,452 this year.
In Karachi, he said, crime rate came down from 21,071 last year to 18,056 this year and crime involving property declined from 12,147 last year to 9,540 this year.
Mr Hussain said these figures proved success of the government’s policies and reflected effectiveness of the measures implemented.
He claimed that unlike the past governments, the present one neither victimized anyone nor discriminated against any opposition member.
He kicked off an offensive against the PPP while present law and order situation with the period from June 1992 to 1996 during which an operation clean-up against the MQM had been conducted. He recalled that during the period, the PPP had been ruling over the country and alleged that political opponents and activists had been subjected to victimization and implicated in false cases. He cited various Articles of the Constitution which, he claimed, had been violated by the PPP government to victimize the MQM. He also accused the PPP of not respecting sanctity of chadar and chardeewari.
Turning to the problem of traffic jams in Karachi, he maintained that it was mainly caused by roads’ conditions, faulty traffic signals and encroachments and that all these subjects fell within the ambit of the city government.
Reacting sharply to Mr Hussein’s allegations and claims, Mohammad Rafiq Advocate of the PPP Parliamentarians retorted that while 50 million people were living below the poverty line and many people had committed suicide, law and order situation under the present government could not be described as ‘satisfactory’.
He also referred to the attack on a van carrying employees of Suparco and recalled that many of them were gunned down while going to offer prayers.
He made mention of the killings of a former speaker Abdul Raziq Khan as well as Khalid Bin Walid, Mustafa Kamal and Nishat Malik.
“How can the law and order be described satisfactory when the car of a minister is snatched, deputy speaker’s home is burgled and son of Asif Ghazali is kidnapped?” Mr Rafiq stressed that until and unless social disparities were addressed and youth was provided jobs, such a situation would persist because desperate people were misled by the criminals and instigated to take up arms.
Hitting back at Mr Hussein for his remarks on June 19, 1992 operation clean-up, Mr Rafiq reminded him that at that time Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah had been chief minister of the province.
He criticized the MQM, though without naming it, for dividing people on ethnic grounds and alleged that it was serving the cause of the Establishment and not the people.
Minister Nadir Akmal Leghari talked about perception and reality about law and order situation. He said that despite perception of failing law and order situation, the reality was that car theft had declined by 20 per cent during last year while there was a decline in other crimes, including killings, robbery and kidnapping.
However, he expressed concern over emergence of gambling dens and gang culture involving educated youth, and called upon the law enforcement agencies to take notice of the situation. The major cause, he observed, was unemployment.
Though economy had improved, its impact had not trickled down to the common man, he said. He said that involvement of external forces and rise of religious extremism in law and order problem could not be ruled out.
He stressed the need for an improved and proactive intelligence gathering about criminals. He also called for ensuring swift justice in criminal cases through judicial reforms. The minister said that prosecution service had to be established and emphasized the need for a distinction between criminals and terrorists.
Mr Leghari supported community policing and called for enlarging CPLC-like operations and servant registration programme, etc.
He suggested that police department reforms should be implemented fully and investigation department given funds. Proper training should imparted to investigation staff, he added, and stressed that public safety commissions should be appointed at district, provincial and federal levels as soon as possible.
Dr Sultan Khuhawar of the Treasury benches criticized the law and order situation and alleged that innocent people were being victimized. Police, he alleged, were harassing common man and extortion was still on.
Earlier Minister Shabbir Qaimkhani defended the law and order and a member Anwar Mahar expressed his dissatisfaction over the situation. The Speaker adjourned the session till Dec 5.
