KARACHI, March 28: Sindh Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui has said that there is no harassment or fear prevailing among the businessman community in the province, nor is any businessman leaving the country due to such a problem.
“They have been maintaining coordination not only with government but also with the law-enforcement agencies and are actively cooperating with them,” he said while talking to newsmen here on Monday.
He said that for the first time the businessman community had been struggling side by side police and promoting policing. Its impact on law and order in this city, as well as the whole province, would be pleasant, he added.
In reply to a question about complaints of threatening calls to businessmen, he said anybody could receive such calls. Some profession rival might also resort to such activity, he pointed out. However, if a complaint was lodged promptly, police could take effective steps to trace out and arrest the culprit.
Regarding the law and order situation in the city, the minister maintained that a large number of foreign businessmen were on a visit to Karachi on the occasion of the ITIF-2005 exhibition and many a foreign delegations had attended the earlier events, Textile Asia and Health Asia conferences, without facing any trouble vis-a-vis the law and order situation which showed that the situation in Karachi, as well as in the rest of the province, was fully under control.
He, however, indicated that the provincial government was taking effective measures to improve the situation further.
He advised the print media to avoid carrying reports having inaccurate news as this could affect our national interests.
Earlier, the minister paid a surprise visit to various parts of Lyari at about 01:30am on Monday and also checked the records of Baghdadi and Kalri police stations. He also sought details about those arrested by the police.
Speaking on the occasion, he said that all criminal elements would soon be taken to task with the cooperation of people.
“People are happy and satisfied with the performance of police and other agencies,” he said, pointing out that shops and hotels now remained open till late in the night.
Later, he visited the office of the Lyari TPO and witnessed the functioning of ‘15 Emergency Centre’. He inquired about the steps being taken by the officials to maintain law and order.
The people, who were surprised to see the minister in the area in such odd hours, expressed their gratitude for the steps being taken by the government towards restoring law and order in Lyari.
Mr Siddiqui appealed to them to extend their full cooperation to the police and Rangers in this regard.
He advised them to approach the administration without any fear if their property was occupied by any terrorist. He held out the assurance that the administration would extend every help in getting their property retrieved.—PPI/APP
