HYDERABAD, July 13: Sindh Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro said on Saturday that a comprehensive strategy had been prepared for establishing peace in Lyari and law-enforcing agencies were working actively on it.

Speaking at a press conference at the Hyderabad circuit house after meeting law officers, he said that being a member of a committee formed by the Sindh government to bringing peace and rehabilitate displaced families of Lyari, he had analysed the situation which indicated that areas falling in union councils Nos 1, 2, 6 and 8 of Lyari were facing serious a law and order situation.

He said that mapping of these areas had been done and entry and exit points had been identified that were being used by criminals for entering their areas.

He said that the government would close all such points and set up check posts to stop their movement.

“The Lyari committee has prepared its report which it will submit to the government in a few days,” he said.

He dispelled an impression that local residents of Lyari were involved in criminal activities.

He added that ‘outsiders’, and not residents of the area, were involved in these activities and they could not be identified at this point of time.

He said that 150 internally displaced persons of Lyari were staying in Bhambore and 450 in Badin and they were being provided basic facilities to lead their lives there.

The law minister said that the witness protection bill had been prepared and it would be tabled in the upcoming Sindh Assembly session.

He said that recommendations had been sought from the Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court and other stakeholders in this respect.

Answering a question, he said that decentralisation of ministries under the 18th amendment to the Constitution was still incomplete.

He said that the law department had prepared 35 bills, which would be approved by the Sindh Assembly gradually.

He said that the local government law of 1979 needed amendments.

He asked former allies of the Pakistan Peoples Party to submit their recommendations about it so that it could be adopted.

Dr Mandhro said that such laws were not approved through agitation or in the streets.

He said that the judiciary was fully independent in the country but the poor were facing difficulties due to a slow pace of disposal of cases in courts.

About release of certain prisoners on parole during the tenure of former chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, he said that no one would have any objection if all requirements for release on parole were met. However, people were released without following the required procedure under the Arbab government, he added.

He said that the PPP government had provided jobs to youth and trained hundreds of them. He said that according to one estimate between 200,000 and 300,000 youths became eligible for employment in Sindh.

He said that the people of Sindh had once again given the mandate to the PPP and it was trying its level best to facilitate the masses.

Earlier, he presided over a meeting of the law department and assured officials concerned that their problems would be resolved.

The chairman of the Law Officers Association, Ikhlas Ahmed Memon, informed the meeting that district attorneys and their deputies had been working on a fixed pay of Rs30,000 per month for the past four years in civil courts.

He called for their regularisation and said that they should be treated on a par with their counterparts on the criminal prosecution side.