KARACHI: A meeting between the Sindh chief minister and Karachi corps commander decided to extend the scope of the crackdown against terrorists and their facilitators to the “drug mafia”, which was trying to create a law and order situation in the province, it emerged on Friday.

Corps Commander Lt Gen Shahid Baig Mirza and CM Murad Ali Shah met at the Chief Minister House to review the overall law and order situation in the wake of the recent wave of terrorism in the country.

They decided to intensify the ongoing crackdown against militants and their facilitators as well as the “drug mafia” in the city and in other parts of the province.

The issue of shifting of eight antiterrorism courts to the Karachi central prison from Clifton also come under discussion and the CM said that he had issued orders to the chief secretary for their relocation in the light of the decision of the last meeting of the Sindh apex committee.

“With the shifting of the ATCs, 1,500 policemen have been spared from security duty for transporting undertrial prisoners to and from the prison as their cases would now be heard within the premises of the jail,” said the CM.

The suicide bombing at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in which over 85 persons were killed was also one of the focal points of the meeting.

Both the CM and the corps commander shared the progress made so far in the investigation of the incident.

“The police, Rangers and intelligence agencies are jointly working to solve this case, and I am sure this would be solved shortly,” Mr Shah said, thanking the corps commander for extending full support of the army soon after the Sehwan blast.

“I am also thankful to the armed forces, Pakistan Navy and air force for their prompt support and cooperation,” he added.

The chief minister said that he was quite happy that everyone, including civil society and religious scholars, had condemned the Sehwan blast and took to streets against terrorists.

The CM also referred to the constitution of a high-powered committee led by the Rangers’ director general for making security plans and to share threat alerts regularly with all stakeholders.

They agreed to hold the meeting of the apex committee soon to discuss law and order issues, a comprehensive security plan as well as progress of the Sehwan blast.

Sources said that the apex committee meeting would probably be held next week.

100 being grilled for Sehwan blast

The sources added that the three teams recently constituted by the CM to catch the militants, their facilitators and those involved in carrying out reconnaissance for the Sehwan bombing collectively apprehended around 100 suspects from different places on the basis of call data records and the footage of CCTV cameras installed at the shrine.

The three teams were sent to areas in Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh for arresting those responsible for the Sehwan blast.

Of the 100 suspects arrested so far, 20 were picked up in Johi, five in Mehar, 18 in Larkana, six in Sehwan and 40 were taken into custody in Jamshoro and Dadu districts.

A suicide vest was also recovered from a suspect.

The sources said that the plan to set up a joint investigation team to grill the held suspects was delayed for a while so that the Counter-Terrorism Department and intelligence agencies separately conducted their own investigations before handing the suspects to the JIT.

A meeting would be held next week in which representatives of all investigating agencies would share their findings with each other.

Also on Friday, two suspects were arrested in Karachi for allegedly making hoax calls about planting explosives in buildings. The authorities were optimistic that the held suspects would lead the investigators to the gang involved in hoax calls in the metropolis.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2017