HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that time has come that civilian armed forces take full care of law and order issues, adding that the proposal was discussed in the recent meeting of the apex committee of the province as well.

He was addressing inaugural ceremony of facilitation centre established by Hyderabad police range at the women police station, off Autobahn Road, and speaking to the media on Friday evening.

He said federal law enforcers, especially Rangers, faced burden of law and order when they had other tasks to look after. He said that this was discussed threadbare by the Sindh apex committee which believed that it was time that civilian agencies should now exclusively handle law and order. He vowed to enhance capacity of the Sindh police.

He dispelled the impression that his government would be under political pressure as far as the ongoing investigation of Malir SSP Rao Anwar’s case was concerned.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, the chief minister said that there were so many extraneous factors that tended to change behaviour towards police. He said that perception towards police was changing and these facilitation centres would help resolve petty issues confronting people in their routine life.

He said such centres would be set up in other districts and divisional headquarters as well and eventually would be linked with revenue department’s facilitation centres. He said that people would avail different services at these centres in a better environment. He said that he would look forward to ensure service delivery through these centres in Sindh.

Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal, Sindh police chief A.D. Khowaja and Hyderabad DIG Javed Odho also spoke.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2018