KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Wednesday cancelled more than half a million arms licences after the expiry of the May 19 deadline set for their verification.

Mr Shah said 595,146 licensees had not even applied for the verification until last week, “therefore, I hereby decide to cancel their licences from this day”.

The policy decision was taken by the chief minister while presiding over a cabinet meeting at CM House.

Also read: Arms licences to be computerised by Dec 31

Senior Minister Nisar Khuhro, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro, Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Information Minister Sharjeel Memon, Works and Services Minister Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, Mines and Minerals Minister Manzoor Wassan and all other cabinet members attended the meeting.

Earlier briefing the cabinet, Home Secretary Mukhtiar Soomro said the process had been started for the verification of 1,057,456 arms licences in the province. Till date the government had received 462,310 applications for the verification of arms licence, he said. Of them, he added, only 56,891 licences had been verified, while 184,750 licences were pending with the National Database and Registration Authority and 272,510 licences were pending with deputy commissioners concerned.

The secretary also said that according to the 2005 census, of the 135,734 Afghan refugees settled in Karachi, 92,646 were registered. He said that 33,468 Afghan refugees had been repatriated by this month.The chief minister directed the home secretary to coordinate with the Rangers and police to purge the katcha area of Ghotki, Sukkur and Kandhkot-Kashmore of dacoits. He appreciated that the Rangers along with police carried out operations in Ghotki against bandits during which 23 suspects were arrested.

Mr Shah also praised the targeted operations in Karachi by the Rangers. In these 457 operations, 293 suspects belonging to the banned organisations were arrested, 350 weapons and 15,092 ammunitions were seized, the home secretary informed the chief minister.

Safoora Goth tragedy

Briefing the cabinet, Sindh police chief Ghulam Hyder Jamali said the police investigators worked day and night to solve the Safoora Goth bus attack case in which 45 innocent people from the Ismaili community were killed on May 13.

“The police finally arrested four persons who confessed to have carried out the Safoora Goth attack and having killed renowned social worker Sabeen Mahmud,” he said.

He said the police were highly thankful to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, army chief General Raheel Sharif and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah for acknowledging the efforts of the police. This appreciation boosted the morale and spirit of the police, he added. About the culprits and their role in the bus attack, the police chief said Tahir Husain Minhas alias Sain, alias Zahid, alias Naveed, alias Khalil, alias Shaukat, alias Mota, son of Khadim Hussain Minhas, was the one who got into the bus and killed the 45 people. The other culprits were Mohammad Azhar Ishrat alias Maajid, son of Ishrat, Haafiz Naasir Ahmed alias Yaasir, son of Afzal, and Saad Aziz alias Tin Tin, alias John, alias Aziz Shaikh.

They also confessed to have recently carried out a gun attack on US national Debra Lobo, a bomb attack on naval personnel at Dalmia, suicide attack blast on Rangers officials, grenade attack on schools; bomb blast and targeted killing of Bohra community members; bomb attacks on police vans and targeted killing of police officials in Karachi and Hyderabad.

Law and order

Giving a year-wise comparison of crime incidents, Mr Jamali said 1,707 murder cases had been registered from Jan 1, 2014 to May 26, 2014. In the corresponding period this year, 830 murders had been registered, indicating that the number of killings reduced by half.

Similarly, the IG said, kidnap cases dropped from last year’s 31 to seven this year. Terror attacks reduced from 13 to five during the period. Extortion activities were also on the decline, with 214 cases registered during the five months of last year to 111 cases this year so far. Robberies and armed robberies, too, reduced this year with 1,026 cases registered while in the corresponding period of last year 1,345 cases had been registered.

About the killing and arrest of militants, kidnappers and other criminals since Jan 1, the police chief said that 127 terrorists of Al Qaeda, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan had been killed and 58 suspects arrested. In encounters, he added, 53 targeted killers were gunned down while 54 others were arrested. Similarly, 16 kidnappers were killed in police action while 10 others were arrested.

The IG claimed that 2,250 dacoits and criminals were killed in police action while 3,951 were arrested.

Wheat procurement

Sindh Food Minister Gianchand Israni told the cabinet that 854,986 tonnes of wheat had been procured till May 26. “By the end of this month the initial target of 900,000 tonnes will be completed, while an additional target of 200,000 will be achieved by June end,” he said.

He said old wheat stocks (of the 2014 crop) was 697,000 tonnes, while this year’s procurement would be 1.1 million tonnes.

About wheat requirement, he said local demand of flour mills and chakkis would be 1.1 million tonnes, while for Thar and other relief operations, 100,000 tonnes wheat would be required. Therefore, the total requirement would come to around 1.2 million tonnes, he said, adding that there would be 597,000 tonnes of wheat in surplus.

The chief minister directed the food minister to ensure proper storage of wheat to prevent damage to the stocks during the monsoon.

Public sector management reforms

In order to mobilise resources and improve public financial management, Sindh has entered into an agreement with World Bank and initiated Sindh Public Sector Management Reform Project, said Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while briefing the cabinet.

Under the project, he said, the finance department in coordination with the planning and development department had prepared a budget strategy paper (2015-16). The main contours of the papers included government policies, priorities, strategic allocations of resources and key macro-economic assumptions over the midterm framework.

He said the net actual receipts for 2012-13 and 2013-14 remained at Rs469.42 billion and Rs510 billion, respectively, as against budget estimates of Rs570.8 billion and Rs595.5 billion showing variance of 17.76 per cent in 2012-13 and 14.37 per cent in 2013-14. The variation is attributed to shortfall in federal transfers, provincial own receipts, federal development grants and foreign assisted projects.

The finance minister said the sluggish economic growth rate, inefficiencies in tax administration and tax collection, ban on disposal of government land and delay in execution of donor-funded projects were mainly responsible for less than target receipts of the province.

He said the revenue transfers from the federal divisible pool, straight transfer and grants constituted 80 percent of total provincial current revenue receipts in 2012-13 and 82 per cent in 2013-14. The revised estimates of revenue transfers from the federal divisible pool, straight transfer and grants for current financial year amounted to 81 per cent of provincial current revenue estimates as against budget estimates of 79 per cent.

He said the provincial government was trying to reduce dependence on federal receipts with focus on own resource generation effort through Sindh Tax Revenue Mobilisation Plan. Its aim was to reduce share of federal transfer from the 81 per cent at present to 78.7 per cent in the year 2017-18, he explained.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2015

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