ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: The apathetic and incompetent civic bodies’ failure in doing their job has led to the rise of extortionists in the federal capital, which has generally been seen as one of the safest places in the country.

However, it seems as if the police are still trying to turn a blind eye to the rise of organised crime in Islamabad.

The issue was highlighted when a dozen vendors of the Sabzi Mandi at I-11 approached the local police and got an extortion case registered against one group on July 9 this year.

Till then, neither the business community had raised a voice about the issue nor had the police highlighted this trend in the city.

“Business people do not get involved in such matters,” said the president of Islamabad Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Zafar Bakhtawari, adding that “crime originates from illegal Goths and katchi abadis.”

But once the vendors of the Sabzi Mandi ended up in the Islamabad High Court in the last week of August, the local police too entered the fray.

The court was informed at a hearing earlier this month by the Islamabad police chief that around Rs4.5 – 5 million was being collected daily by the extortionists.

Though it was not revealed to the court, Dawn has learnt that the police statement was based on reports by local intelligence agencies including the Intelligence Bureau. The intelligence reports claimed that certain Taliban factions were involved in the extortion, along with the local players.

“The hardened Taliban fighters among the ranks actually encourage and strengthen the local people who used to collect money from the Sabzi mandi,” said an official of Intelligence Bureau, adding that it was not clear how it began.

“Perhaps the fighters infiltrated one group which is predominately Pashtoon and subsequently, the other group too compromised.”

The official referred to the alleged land mafia in Islamabad, where the main players too are reported to have hired former fighters, explaining that the presence of hardened fighters in Islamabad is not new.

The police and administration continued to ignore this, according to the official, till the matter reached the court.

An increase in the crime rate around Sabzi Mandi in recent months has been reported, but the police never linked it with the groupings inside the mandi till the court started hearing the matter.

On September 10, the police conducted raids in Sabzi Mandi and announced that it had arrested 15 persons including five Afghans for their alleged involvement in extortion.

Officials told the court that there was a tussle between the groups to occupy Sabzi Mandi and that these groups extorted money with the connivance of the officials of the capital police and the CDA for a decade.

But within days the police began to backtrack.

The Islamabad police and the local administration on September 17 presented a new report in the court claiming that there was no extortion activity in the market whatsoever.

The new report claimed that the ‘extortion’ was a fee collected by certain traders to maintain security and cleanliness in the area – and there was no coercion involved.

“But even if ordinary people were collecting a fee to provide services that are the domain of civic authorities, why did no one in charge stop this earlier,” said Haji Omar Farooq, who also heads a ‘welfare organisation’ for the traders selling green vegetables. His group is called Itehad Group.

Indeed, the real culprits of the problem are the ICT and the CDA that have not taken their responsibilities seriously.

The administration of the Sabzi Mandi is the responsibility of the Agriculture Produce and Markets department, under the Chief Commissioner Islamabad.

“The market committees should provide security while CDA should provide cleaning and parking facilities,” said Haji Omar Farooq.

But this never happened till recently – now the sweepers are visible as are the police patrols and the parking lot is being managed also.

But nobody knows how long this will last.

As a result of this absence of regulation and oversight in the past, the traders had begun to manage the affairs.

The first and foremost is security and safety.

People took the initiative to hire guards and then began collecting money from others in exchange for these guards providing general security instead of focusing on their direct employers.

Soon Safdar Siddique entered the scenario to provide security and maintain general order in the potatoes and onions section of the Sabzi Mandi.

Then others began to collect money to keep their areas clean – this was aimed at the pushcart holders and was seen as extortion. It was also opposed by the Safdar Siddique group.

“They used to collect Rs50- Rs100 twice a day from poor people,” said Haji Javed Razaq, who like Safdar Siddique is in the potato and onion trade. “We complained to the assistant commissioner several times against this extortion at gun point which has been taking place since 2008.”

But his accusation is rejected by the Safdar Siddique group.

“This is simply an accusation. We used to collect some money from the pushcart holders because they created litter with the packing etc,” said a close aide of Mr Siddique, who did not want to be named.

But, it is strange to note that the opposition for collecting money to clean the area comes from the traders and stall holders.

It seems that the fight started among the traders who have stalls in the market and they charge money from the pushcart owners and those sitting on the ground selling various items in retail. But they did not like new players coming in and charging the same pushcart owners and other vendors in the name of ‘security’.

“These people charge the pushcart sellers and retailers but when we charge them for cleanliness and security then they oppose it,” the aide of Safdar Siddique said.

This led to the conflict between the traders/stall holders and the Siddique group.

The problem became acute when the Safdar Siddique group expanded further than the onion and potatoes section to the green vegetable section.

This is when a disgruntled group of stall holders, who started to call themselves ‘guerrilla brothers’, began challenging the Siddique group.

The stall holders collected behind Aman Ullah Sheeno, a donkey cart owner.

Sheeno, a Pakhtoon, is said to have inducted some fighters in his ranks, encouraging the rivals to also look for some tough guys.

As the conflict heated up the two groups started to interfere in the transport and parking sector too.

The CDA has auctioned the parking lot for Rs30 million for 2013-14, but the contractor has converted the parking fee into an entry fee.

The Sheeno group and the Safdar Siddique group too started to charge trucks and other loading vehicles entering various sections of the market to the annoyance of the stall holders and traders.

Even during the Eid holidays in August, armed men could be seen moving around in the market between 3am and 8am, maintaining security and making collections.

This was the situation in which the rifts and divisions grew so large that the issue reached the court and the public eye.

This happened when the tough guys in the Sheeno group offended their patrons among the stall holders in June, 2013.

As the donkey cart owner was then facing the ire of the Safdar Siddique group as well as the patrons who had employed him, he approached the Islamabad High Court and got an FIR registered on July 9, 2013. This proved fatal for all sides.

But with the backtracking of the police, it is not clear how this menace will be curbed.

Nonetheless, it is evident that only long term supervision and local administrative control of the Sabzi Mandi will check the criminal activities taking place there.