KARACHI: Time-limit for reward money discouraging informers
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, Feb 13: The new practice of temporarily designating wanted criminals as proclaimed offenders with money on their heads by the Sindh government has put the police in a quandary
, as they are having a hard time convincing informers about their share from the bounty in the series of arrests.
Well-placed sources in the home department said that the notifications for declaring a criminal as proclaimed offender and put a head money or reward for providing information to the police for his arrest was usually issued for an indefinite period. However, the Sindh government for the first time had issued notifications for proclaimed offenders for a specified period.
A senior police officer dealing with terrorism cases said that the notifications confining the informers to provide a lead within a certain time period would not yield any positive result while on the contrary the efforts to subdue terrorism might face a setback.
According to a notification POL-II-HD12-17/2004, issued on Dec 28, last year for a period of three months, stated that the Sindh government had been pleased to announce a reward money of Rs2 million to persons who would provide information leading to the arrest of criminals involved in the murder of Mufti Maulana Jamil Khan and Maulana Nazeer Ahmed Taunsvi of Alami Majlis-i-Tahaffuz Khatm-i-Nabuwwat.
The two scholars were assassinated on Oct 10, 2004 on Jahangir Road in Jamshed Quarters police limits. "The notification shall remain in force for three months from the issuing date," it added.
Officials in police department said that the notification would expire next month in March and the officials working on the case were disheartened. They were of the view that if the alleged killers were arrested after the expiry date of the notification, the reward money would not apply on the arrest, and the informer might not get the bounty.
When the informer would come to know that he might not get the bounty, he would have withheld the information which could lead to the arrest of the culprits, they added.
Similarly, the Sindh government had issued a notification for the arrest of the killers of another religious scholar Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai on Sept 16, 2004. The notification would remain in force for six months from the issuing date and would expire on March 15, 2005.
In another notification issued on Jan 13, the Sindh government announced reward money of one million rupees each to a person(s) who would provide information leading to the arrest of 'sectarian terrorists Yawar Abbas Rizvi and Syed Mohsin Mehdi Rizvi of the banned Tehrik-i-Jafferia Pakistan (Dr Hyder group). This notification would remain in force for a period of six months from the issuing date.
In a notification issued on Jan 4, 2004, the Sindh government announced reward money of Rs2 million for providing information leading to the arrest of persons involved in bomb explosions at Madressah Jamia Rashidia, Ahsanabad in Gulshan-i-Maymar on July 21, 2001, and at Jamia Binnoria near SITE police station on Aug 8, 2004, respectively. The notification would be effective for a span of six months from the issue date.
The provincial government through the home department had announced reward money of Rs2 million for providing information about the killers of Munawar Hussain Suhrawardi, who was killed on June 17, 2004. The notification was issued on Dec 30, 2004, which would remain in effect till March 29, 2005.
In yet another notification, the Sindh government had announced reward of one million rupees for providing information about the arrest of sectarian terrorist of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi Maulana Sanaullah. However, the notification would remain in force till Feb 25, 2005.
The police officials said that the home department on the recommendation of the police department announced rewards for the arrests of proclaimed offenders. However, the police department did not recommend time restrictions about the arrests of the culprits.
The time limit imposed by the home department was surprising for the police and informers as well. They claimed that a proclaimed offender might escape arrest if informers did not pass on the information to police officials just for fearing to loose their due share in the reward.
The officials also complained that the reward money was given lesser than the announced one. When an informer would not get the promised share, he could be disappointed and he would be least interested in putting his life at stake in future.
An official said: "We have received the reward money much lesser than what was announced. We have to meet expenses incurred on mobility and a siege laid to arrest the culprits besides we have to pay the promised amount to the informers," he added.
In the case of two warlords of Lyari - Arshad Pappu and Rehman Dakait - the Sindh government had announced one million rupees for the arrest of Arshad Pappu and Rs0.5 million for the arrest of Rehman Dakait.
The two criminals were the ring-leaders of their gangs and both were fighting to get control over the drug peddling business in Lyari. More than 100 people have lost their lives in the last one year.
