17 January 2005	Monday	06 Zilhaj 1425

GUJRAT, Jan 16: The police of four of the districts in the Gujranwala Range have failed to achieve the 50 per cent target fixed by the DIG for the arrest of proclaimed offenders and court absconders during a 45-day campaign. The districts are Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot and Narowal.

Only the police of Mandi Bahauddin and Hafizabad have proved equal to the task during the campaign, which has been extended till Jan 31 in the wake of poor performance.

DIG Altaf Qamar had directed the department heads of the districts falling in the Gujranwala Range to launch a campaign against POs and court absconders. The drive started on Nov 18 and was to be concluded on Dec 31, but it was extended to another month.

The DIG had warned the subordinates of strict disciplinary action in case of their failure to achieve the target. Police statistics revealed that the number of absconding POs (of both A and B categories) in the range was 8,731 and that of court absconders 7,099.

However, after the conclusion of the campaign, the record showed that Mandi Bahauddin police remained on top throughout the range by achieving 54 per cent of the target for the arrest of POs and 57 per cent for the arrest of court absconders. They arrested 146 POs out of 269 and 128 court absconders out of 223.

The Hafizabad police, according to the figures, ranked next to Mandi Bahauddin for achieving 51 per cent of the target for the arrest of POs. But it achieved only 21 per cent of the target for the arrest of court absconders. Of the total 508 POs, the Hafizabad police arrested 257 and of the 62 court absconders, they could apprehend only 13.

The Narowal police, led by DPO Muhammad Usman, could meet only 38 per cent of the target for the arrest of POs and 14 per cent for the arrest of court absconders. They held 325 POs out of 849 and 140 court absconders out of 970.

The Sialkot police under the supervision of DPO Raja Usman Mumtaz could meet only 31 per cent of the target for the arrest of POs and only six per cent of the target for the arrest of court absconders.

Of the 2,854 POs, they arrested 887 and 142 aourt absconders out of 2,292. The figures of Gujranwala police were no better, as they could arrest only 651 POs out of 2,382 (27 per cent) and 218 court absconders out of 1,373 (16 per cent).

At the bottom of the list was Gujrat police, which could achieve only 24 per cent of the target for the arrest of POs and 17 per cent for the arrest of CAs. They arrested 453 POs out of 1,869 POs and 378 court absconders out of 2,179.

The DIG during a press conference here in Gujrat in December had said he had been expecting good results by the Gujrat police during the campaign. However, the district police did not come up to the expectations.

Explaining reasons for the poor performance of the Gujrat police, a spokesman said the police remained busy in making arrangements in December for the security of Gen Pervez Musharraf. He said it also had to make arrangements for the security of VIP and VVIP persons, who belong to this district.

PUNISHMENT: The Range DIG had suspended from service eight SHOs of different police stations in Sialkot for their failure to achieve the target. Those suspended were Hajipura SHO Shahzad Ashraf, Naikapura SHO Syed Mushtaq Husain Naqvi, Ranpura SHO Muhammad Ayub, Kotwali SHO Raja Naeem, Pasrur city SHO Karamat Ali, Pasrur Saddar SHO Waqar Javed Bhatti, Satrah SHO Ghulam Ghaus Cheema and Bambaanwala SHO Akhtar Sultan.

The DIG had also sent written suspension orders on same charges of four SHOs of different police stations in the Gujrat district. They were Saddar Jalalpur Jattan SHO Ghulam Sarwar Gondal, Kunjah SHO Riaz Ahmad, Karrianwala SHO Mehar Irshadullah and Kharian Saddar SHO Javed Aslam Malhi.

However, the suspended police officials are still holding their charge. Sources claimed that the DIG under some political pressure had verbally allowed the four officials to keep working in the same capacity.

EXTENSION: Mr Qamar had directed the six district police officers to extend the campaign till Jan 31.