KARACHI: Moving forward to implement the national action plan at the provincial level, the Sindh government on Saturday decided to ban establishment of new madressahs and mosques without a prior permission of the home department.

The government also decided to build a ‘high-security prison’ in Jamshoro within a week for high-profile terror suspects.

The key decisions were taken at a meeting, which was chaired by Sindh home secretary Abdul Kabir Kazi and attended among others by senior officials of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Other key decisions included repatriation of all Afghan refugees by the year end, proposing legislation for the regulation of mosques and seminaries, recruitment in the newly-established counterterrorism department of police and expediting process of forensic lab facilities in major cities to improve investigation and prosecution.

The repatriation of all Afghan refugees will require a ‘massive campaign’ on the part of the relevant provincial and federal authorities as well as international bodies.

“There is a political consensus to fight terrorism and the decisions taken today to execute the apex committee decisions reflect that consensus,” home secretary Mr Kazi told reporters after the meeting.

He said: “The officials would hold regular meetings to review progress on the decisions, which included attaching permission from the home department for building any new mosque and madressah in the province.

“Similarly, we are going to set up the high-security prison in Jamshoro by the end of this month to shift all high-profile terror suspects lodged in different jails of the province.”

He said the Sindh government had referred 64 cases to the interior ministry out of the 84 forwarded by the Sindh police, but the ministry sought details of all the 84 cases to study before finally sending them to military courts.

About the repatriation of the refugees, the home secretary said: “There are some 2.7 million Afghan refugees living in Sindh. It was decided that all of them be repatriated by Dec 31, 2015, as the deadline would not be extended,” said Mr Kazi.

“Stern action has been planned for all illegal immigrants in the province. Similarly, the use of loudspeakers at mosques would also be regulated and it would only be allowed for Azans, Friday sermons and Friday prayers. The area administration with assistance of local police would be responsible to implement such instructions,” he explained.

Sharing the decisions related to the police taken during the meeting, Karachi police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo said some 1,000 personnel would be recruited in the counterterrorism department (CTD), while their training would be conducted under the supervision of the Pakistan Army.

“For Karachi, the home department has notified two police stations that will work under the CTD to register only terror cases and investigate them using modern technology with all required gadgets and resources. A police station, each in Hyderabad and Sukkur, will also be established soon,” he added.

Nadra, police agreement

“Another good news is that we have today signed an agreement with Nadra [National Database and Registration Authority] that will facilitate the Karachi police in identification of suspects through biometric verification system. It will help to establish our CRO [criminals record office] on modern lines with thumb impression and family details of each and every suspect.”

Earlier, the meeting was told that there were around 1,000 madressahs besides a higher number mosques across Sindh. The meeting decided to recommend legislation for the regulation of madressahs and mosques so that they could be managed in line with the defined laws. The meeting also decided to expedite the process of forensic analysis to facilitate investigation and prosecution in major Sindh cities.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2015

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