ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: The Supreme Court has bitterly criticised the performance of Punjab police for its failure to control crimes and directed the provincial police officer to reshuffle his entire team, bringing only competent officers to fore.
"The credibility of the provincial police is at stake. People are approaching the Supreme Court by invoking its jurisdiction on fundamental rights because the entire department is sleeping," Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry observed.
A two-member bench was hearing a complaint of Mohammed Akram Bhatti who had accused a wanted thug Mohammed Aslam Bassa of running a gang in Lahore to extort 'Jagga' tax from shopkeepers.
Bassa, who carries Rs1 million head-money, had formed a gang of criminals on moving to Lahore some eight years ago. When two of his accomplices, Sarwar Khan and Asif Khan, were arrested and sent to Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore, Bassa involved his brothers Akram Jharri and Asghar to form a bigger, 28-member gang.
The police could arrest 11 members of the gang, with 17 others still at large. All of them are wanted in 11 cases pertaining to four murders, kidnappings for ransom and extortion.
IG Punjab Major (retd) Ziaul Hassan, however, assured the court that three police teams were very close to busting the Bassa gang. He said 13 cases had also been registered against those sheltering the absconding gangsters.
He also informed the court that 45 gangs were operating in Punjab. Some 60 to 70 per cent of these gangs had been smashed while the Bassa gang would be brought to book soon, he said.
When the chief justice appreciated the efforts of the District Police Officer Rawalpindi, SSP Saud Aziz, in controlling crime in the city, Advocate General Punjab Chaudhry Aftab Iqbal quipped that 26 notorious gangs were operating with impunity in Rawalpindi alone.
The chief justice directed the provincial police chief to reshuffle his entire team and bring to fore only competent officers who could put in sincere efforts by sacrificing their comfort.
“Appoint those officers who know what policing is,” he said.
The chief justice regretted: “The complaint of Akram Bhatti has been lying on our table since July 5, and we are sending notices after notices but no progress has yet been showed by the police.”
