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LAHORE: Security forces carrying out a joint operation in the riverine area of Rajanpur got a final nod on Tuesday for air strikes to hit the gangsters hiding in a 10km-long piece of tract surrounded by water.
Rajanpur police requested Punjab IG Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera to provide them two military helicopters for the strikes. The forces also offered the gangsters to surrender before the air strikes.
A senior police official privy to the development told Dawn that law enforcement agencies had halted the ground operation against the hardened criminals for the time being to avoid collateral damage.
“The forces have made last announcements asking women, children and other people to evacuate the island,” he said, adding that hundreds of people, mostly families of the gangsters, had been living in the island bordering Sindh and Balochistan for decades.
Villagers asked to move to safe places
The official said police, Rangers, Elite Force commandos and Counter-Terrorism Department personnel were taking part in the operation, codenamed Zarb-i-Ahan.
Mushtaq Sukhera, the Punjab police chief, visited frontline checkposts on Tuesday to review the operational strategy. He was accompanied by police officers from Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan, DPOs and senior officials of Rangers.
“The mortar attack by Rangers has given a visible support to police against the gangsters,” the IG said.
According to a handout, he said the fight against the ‘evil elements’ of society had entered a final phase and security forces would eliminate them soon.
Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2016
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Comments (64) Closed
Apr 13, 2016 07:03am
Good Job. No one can challenge the supremacy of the state
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Apr 13, 2016 07:06am
Awesome! Forces - wipe them out!
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Apr 13, 2016 07:07am
Prompt and overwhelming action is the correct strategy. The nation is with our forces.
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Apr 13, 2016 07:27am
Let's hope this long standing menace of society will be wiped out for good. Utmost care should be taken so that women and children don't get hurt in the course of this operation.
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Apr 13, 2016 07:53am
Give ample time for the women and children to move out. Then wipe them out by all means, even excessive force is justified. Set an example of state power and authority.
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Apr 13, 2016 08:06am
Too bad..You cannot bomb whole village to kill these gangsters. How will you make sure that with villagers these criminal will not move out or what if villagers are not able to move to safe place. Are we going to bomb these innocent villagers too?
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Apr 13, 2016 08:50am
Better late than never.... All the best Pakistan
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Apr 13, 2016 08:55am
The political stance that there's no need for Rangers in Punjab is helping whom ... I wonder
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Apr 13, 2016 09:08am
It's good to see at least such no go areas of Punjab are now in proper consideration for the operations. Irrespective of province such operations have to conduct every city of every inch of the Pakistan where safe hideouts are being enjoyed by bad element from years. After FATA now it's time to move towards city to clean the mess.
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Apr 13, 2016 09:12am
Good one.
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Apr 13, 2016 09:27am
Sind , Baloci ,Ravines and rivers dacoits are famous since long , they travel on the mashaq in the rivers floating on them, mashaq is the buffalo bladder infalted to act like a boat, they deflate this on land to fit it in a bag and strike at night , special forces type people , very difficult to catch due to their high mobility on water .
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Apr 13, 2016 09:34am
Good initiative. Launch similar operation in the kutcha area of Sindh, which is also a safe-heaven for hardcore criminals. For last three decades, the people cannot travel in night time without being escorted by Police.
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Apr 13, 2016 09:43am
Best news of the day !!!
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Apr 13, 2016 10:07am
Good going. Keep it up.
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Apr 13, 2016 10:48am
oh wow. Excellent. clean the filth.
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Apr 13, 2016 11:05am
Where is our brave police and rangers? Why military use on Civilians?
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Apr 13, 2016 11:10am
Too little too late..
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Apr 13, 2016 12:08pm
Very good job. There is no "too late". Appreciate the good job the law enforcement agencies are doing.
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Apr 13, 2016 12:10pm
I feel no logic and no sense in bombing the area of your own county. This is beyond my understanding. Furthermore, if they are asking innocents to move from the area, the gangster will also escape under your nose. The situation is simply hopeless.
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Apr 13, 2016 12:24pm
Great News......
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Apr 13, 2016 12:41pm
God be with you our beloved forces...Ameen..
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Apr 13, 2016 01:29pm
@Talha They have list of Wanted Criminals ,Women and Children are allowed to leave only men have to surrender and get themselves cleared first . People doing that operation are not Stupid though and in other case criminals should to be eliminated then leaving the area in their hands . when mess is piled up for years you surely need a Vacuum Cleaner and chemicals to get the Job Done than simply using a cloth piece or broom . they are professionals they know that stuff more than you .
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Apr 13, 2016 01:33pm
But Rana Sb and ch Sb were against the operation in Punjab. Aren't they??
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Apr 13, 2016 01:44pm
This should have been done years before.Why our Government and law enforcement agencies always waiting for certain incidents to take action,Why the strategy is reactive and not proactive.
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Apr 13, 2016 01:57pm
@Nasrullah the police obviously lack air power to deal with the situation.
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Apr 13, 2016 02:06pm
Now we will need helicopters to even fight against thieves. What days !!
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Apr 13, 2016 02:16pm
@Nasrullah Do you even know this region?. I know this region very well. It is almost inaccessible by foot. These gangsters are very old residents of this region and they are known to have booby traps along the way. Such type of so called civilians should be dealt like that. Cleaning of the filth by all means is necessary.
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Apr 13, 2016 02:28pm
@Talha - It's the same when they were eliminating militants in North Wazirastan. There is no difference here either as these gangsters are just as bad!
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Apr 13, 2016 02:48pm
well done yes clean our mother land Pakistan Pak rangers, Pak police,Pak army Zindabad
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Apr 13, 2016 03:00pm
Well done nobody should be allowed to challenge the writ of state they have to bow down or blown out
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Apr 13, 2016 03:08pm
Crush them and teach them a lesson. Pak Army Zinda Baad.
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Apr 13, 2016 03:09pm
What about their handlers? Will they be arrested from the provincial assembly?
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Apr 13, 2016 03:31pm
I am surprised to see that police cannot handle them and need air strikes to nutralize petty gangsters.
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Apr 13, 2016 03:34pm
please launch similar operation in the KUTCHA area of sindh
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Apr 13, 2016 03:37pm
@Ahmad and Talha...By now most of them must have escaped using riverine routes by virtue of their high mobility in the rivers. What will be left will be low priority petty criminals and government will celebrate another hollow victory like in FATA. success of Counter insurgency operations is not measured by the extent of land cleared/captured but it is the number of high valued targets killed/captured and the follow up operations there after,,,,,,,, GOD help us as we are resorting to self deceiving and cosmetic measures
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Apr 13, 2016 03:53pm
Great Work Punjab Police -
Law and Write of the State should be First Priority
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Apr 13, 2016 03:59pm
Go ahead and finish the job no mery on them.
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Apr 13, 2016 04:18pm
For years , a blind eye was kept about the presence of rajanpur gang although everyone knew about it, why this sudden move. however I don't grudge the action but I'm baffled why this deadly gang was ignored for long.
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Apr 13, 2016 04:27pm
Wipe them out. They don't deserve any mercy.
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Apr 13, 2016 04:42pm
Good to hear that but Still why not on Lahkar-e-Jhangvi hidouts and othere Ex
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Apr 13, 2016 04:59pm
why such a small group of criminal is hard to be sidelined and eliminated and have to gather so much police for this little operation.It shows the capacity of our police department.
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Apr 13, 2016 04:59pm
@Gilgit Baltistan its up to army to decide.
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Apr 13, 2016 05:00pm
@Dari vote bank politics probably.
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Apr 13, 2016 05:01pm
@Sad and Hopeless they maybe bad but very ill equipped poor in logistics support and money they are just local thugs with the help of some local politics of the area due to vote bank politics.
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Apr 13, 2016 05:20pm
They have families there. They are trapped and cannot escape. I don't think they need to bomb them. The security forces don't need to be hasty. The can use fatigue techniques etc.
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Apr 13, 2016 05:27pm
This is like letting a cancer grow uncontrolled and then seeking chemotherapy. If the police and the government had not been sleeping for decades it would not have come to this. Now such measures cannot be avoided and nor can the collateral damage be prevented. Welcome to Pakistan
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Apr 13, 2016 06:08pm
Allow women and children to go
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Apr 13, 2016 06:14pm
Like before criminals will kidnap police people and operation will stop
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Apr 13, 2016 06:20pm
@Zahid Well said Zahid, getting to the root cause is essential for effectiveness of these corrective actions.
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Apr 13, 2016 07:28pm
Gunships being used for gangsters? What if homes are destroyed, civilians are caught in crossfire?
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Apr 13, 2016 07:55pm
@Ishrat salim better late than not Sir!
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Apr 13, 2016 08:34pm
What took so long to take action against "gangsters"on an island in the middle of the country.
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Apr 13, 2016 09:22pm
The problem is that once our armed forces clear up these areas they will hand it back to Police and politicians and the very reason such places exist is due to support of corrupt politicians and police, its a catch 22 situation.
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Apr 13, 2016 09:31pm
There should be no double standards for different parts of the country. If aerial bombardment can be done in Tribal area or Balochistan why not in Punjab. If the families of criminals wants to stay with them it is their choice.
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Apr 14, 2016 12:13am
Good work Pakistan!
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Apr 14, 2016 07:29am
Height of incompetence of the security agencies and government at all levels! What were they doing when the troublemakers were just starting out and had not yet become a menacing threat requiring use of military force that should be reserved for foreign enemies? How could the government allow law and order situation to get so bad in the settled mainland areas that now they have to use aerial power to contain the menace of lawlessness?
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Apr 14, 2016 02:53pm
Why was Raja Sanaullah saying there is no law and order problem in Punjab? We need airstrikes on our own soil!
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Apr 14, 2016 05:50pm
1) When there is an incident, our law enforcement people in the country reaches the spot, cordon the effected area and than start searching for miscreants. I have been noticing this for the last 30 years.
2) When ever there is a need of law and order enforcement, the concerned people announces the action way before and than move on. I have been noticing this for the last 20 years.
Have the concerned people ever think about the outcome of such practices during the last 30 years at least?
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Apr 14, 2016 06:53pm
The forces that have failed to eliminate the banned organisations in the last ten years are not strong and smart enough to eliminate these criminals. Because banned organisations and street criminals operate in tandem.
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Apr 14, 2016 07:57pm
The final frontier is Jhang, the breeding ground for terrorists all around Pakistan.
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Apr 14, 2016 08:42pm
gangsters will use villagers as human shield
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Apr 14, 2016 09:10pm
Sending poor, untrained and ill equipped force to fight with hardened criminal.
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Apr 15, 2016 10:35am
army should have done it earlier.
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Apr 15, 2016 07:37pm
What ever it takes. These gangsters in Rajanpur must be finished. What ever the cost in men and material, all existence of these gangsters must be wiped out from the soil of Pakistan. Punjab government and police has put up a very shameful show. Pak-Army is the only hope. No negotiation with these gangsters. These gangsters should surrender and if they don't then they should be killed and no going back now. Full scale military operation is needed to wipe them off, what ever the cost.
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