09 January 2005	Sunday	27 Ziqa'ad 1425

KARACHI, Jan 8: Sindh Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui has said that safe release of the two judges kidnapped from Shikarpur was the preference of the government, and in this regard much progress has already been achieved.

Talking to newsmen at his office here on Saturday, the home minister said it was a human issue, and suggested that it should not be politicized. Politicization would benefit the kidnappers only, he added.

Rauf Siddiqui said he had requested the Sindh Assembly in this regard and appealed to the judiciary, federal cabinet, Bar associations and the leaders political parties to avoid politicizing the issue.

The interior minister said he had repeatedly warned that haste and pressure could endanger the lives of the victims.

Rauf Siddiqui said that after introducing the mobile phone tracking system, snatching and theft of cell phones had dropped by 60 per cent. The Karachi Electronics Dealers Association had also acknowledged this fact, he said.

He said that to bring the ratio of these cases further down, the government had asked the dealers of the used mobile phones to get filled a data-form, designed jointly by police and their association, before purchasing any used mobile phone. He said that now buying a second-hand mobile phone without filling this form would be considered a crime.-PPI