09 January 2004	Friday	16 Ziqa'ad 1424

KARACHI, Jan 8: Advisor to Sindh chief minister on home affairs Aftab Ahmed Shaikh on Thursday called for prompt disposal of cases of terrorism. Presiding over a high-level meeting which reviewed the law and order situation in the province , he directed the additional chief secretary home, Syed Anwar Haider, to present the challans of the accused in courts after an early finalization of their cases so that the elements involved in terrorist activities could be brought to justice expeditiously.

He asked that all such cases be accorded special importance and priority. The meeting also discussed in details various legal matters. The advisor expressed satisfaction over the overall law and order situation in the province and said continuous fall in crimes indicates an improvement in the situation.

He said that the government was taking all possible steps to eliminate terrorism and to further improve the law and order. The advisor said that despite inadequate resources and obsolete weapons, the police jawans had been bravely struggling to weed out bandits and terrorists in the province. He, however, said that financial constraints and lack of modern technology and weapons were hindering their progress.

Mr. Shaikh informed the meeting that he had already issued directives to the concerned officials to root out dacoits, criminals and various mafias. He said that police rooted out a number of big gangs of bandits involved in kidnappings for ransom last year. He apprised that low incidence of crimes was recorded in the province in the year 2003 as compared to 2002.

In the year 2003, a total of 41,603 cases were registered in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur as against 44,656 in 2002. A total of 1,745 murder cases were recorded in 2003 as against 1,807 cases in the previous year in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur regions. In 2003, 69 cases of kidnappings for ransom were registered against 106 in 2002.-PPI