LARKANA: Home Minister Suhail Anwer Siyal presided over a meeting here on Tuesday to discuss overall law and order and progress in the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) in the province as well as the on-going operation against dacoits in Shikarpur and the issues relating to the welfare of police personnel.

Provincial police chief Ghulam Haidar Jamali, the additional home secretary, additional inspector-general, and DIGs and SSPs of Larkana and Sukkur division attended the meeting.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the home minister said that the border police force had been revived after it was established that militants had moved into Sindh from the Mastung area of Balochistan to carry out attacks. The force, he added, effectively checked such infiltration from the identified points.

The minister said that personnel of the border force would also be deployed at the entry/exit points along the borders of Qambar-Shahdadkot, Kandhkot-Kashmore and Jacobabad districts.

Mr Siyal lauded the role of the army chief, Sindh Rangers and police in restoring peace to Karachi and said that the operation would continue till the elimination of the last terrorist.

Recalling that all stakeholders were taken on board before the launch of the Rangers-led operation in Karachi, he rejected the impression that the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) or the Sindh government was now opposing it.

The PPP, he argued, wanted elimination of terrorism more than any other party as it lost its leader Benazir Bhutto to terrorists.

Rejecting the allegation that the PPP was trying to save certain elements involved in criminal activities, the home minister said that Lyari, which had always been PPP’s stronghold, underwent many operations but his party never approached the police or Rangers for the release of anyone arrested for his alleged involvement in criminal activities.

“I hope that the Karachi operation will reach its logical conclusion,” he said.

Mr Siyal appreciated the performance of Sindh police saying that they succeeded in locating and arresting all suspects of the Jacobabad and Shikarpur bomb blasts.

Expressing his satisfaction over the law and order in Sindh, he observed that people were now travelling from one place to the other without any fear [of being kidnapped, looted or killed]. The system of providing police escort to passenger buses had been done away with due to the improved situation, he said.

In reply to a question, the home minister said that the Sindh government was not interfering in the investigations being conducted by the National Accountability Bureau including those concerning [former petroleum minister] Dr Asim Hussain.

Replying to another question, he said Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah effectively pleaded Sindh’s case with regard to census at the recent meeting of the Council of Common Interests in Islamabad.

Regarding the security situation in Shikarpur, Mr Siyal said the operation against criminals there would continue and “many no-go areas within the district’s katcha belt have already been cleared of criminals”.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2016