JHANG, July 15: The police force of four districts has cut a sorry figure in its much-trumpeted “Jhangir Gilhotran operation” it had launched just a few days ago.

The political and legal circles in Jhang are particularly critical of the police performance, especially after the latest hunt, which the law enforcers believed would win them laurels.

According to the police, they captured five proclaimed offenders and some ‘small fish’ and recovered from their possession five guns during a day-long operation at Jhangir Gilhotran village.

“An operation planned to be launched at the highest level and executed with a huge manpower of three police ranges could fetch only five POs and a handful of ordinary cutthroats from a place which provides shelter to hundreds of hardened criminals at a time points to the police failure rather than any achievement,” sources told Dawn.

The village, they said, was the largest abode of criminals where not less than 1,000 officials, led by two district police officers, launched the massive operation.

Sources disclosed that only a day before the operation, there were at least 300 to 400 proclaimed offenders, armed with sophisticated weapons, in scattered hamlets of Jhangir Gillhotran village. They got wind of the offensive through their well-wishers (in the police department) and fled across the river Chenab to Pindi Bhattian and Sukheki areas.

The river Chenab, flowing close to the village, provides a natural and safe escape to the criminals who take refuge in Jhangir Gilhotran where many police operations had already taken place.

Sources said the police had hardly met with success in any of the previous operations.

A couple of years ago a heavy contingent of Faisalabad police, led by an SP, had raided the area to recover two girls abducted from Chak Jhumra but it failed to do so.

Jhangir Gilhotran lies on the right bank of the river Chenab at the convergence of Jhang, Sargodha and Hafizabad districts. Hardened criminals of these three districts and nearby Faisalabad take refuge here owing to its inaccessible hideouts.

Jhang district bar association president Ghulam Farid and former PPP district president Babar Zaheer Cheema described the operation as unsuccessful. They said it was the black day in the history of the Punjab police.