KARACHI, Jan 11: The proposed police reforms are being implemented from February 2002, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Sindh, Syed Kamal Shah, said.

Presiding over a meeting of DIGs at the Central Police Office here on Friday, he said District Police Officers (DPOs) would be posted in all the 18 towns of Karachi City District Government.

He directed the DIGs and SSPs in Sindh to bring a change in the existing “Thana Culture” and take steps to provide maximum possible facilities to the people.

The IGP directed the senior police officers to improve the system of police stations under the police reforms.

He asked them to ensure “that grievance of every complainant, coming to the police station, is redressed, full justice is dispensed, no excess is done to anyone, and investigation is carried out qualitatively.”

The IGP pointed out that as a result of various steps taken by the police department, the law and order situation in the province had improved during the last few months.

However, he emphasised, that there was still a need to bring further improvement in the situation.

He observed that tension had significantly subsided after the arrest of persons belonging to various notorious groups, involved in sectarian killings, while functioning of the Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) had been streamlined to check crimes, specially hijacking of vehicles.

He said the step entailed establishment of a network of 39 check posts so that stolen or hijacked vehicles could not be taken out of Karachi.

Syed Kamal Shah said unutilized assets of the police would be disposed of through the Privatisation Committee and the revenue so gen-erated would be spent on betterment of the police department.

In the interior of Sindh, he said, the land lying uncultivated near police stations in kutcha areas, would be brought under use and the income from the process would be spent on police welfare.

The IGP said that during 2001, the police arrested 1378 accused in Karachi and recovered 3,724 different types of arms.

Besides, 102 police encounters took place, 3,277 vehicles and cash and jewellery worth Rs2.8 million were also recovered during the year, the IGP added.

Briefing the meeting about situation in interior of Sindh, the Additional IG

Police, Niaz Ahmed Siddiqi, informed that recently a number of important agents of Indian terrorist organization —RAW —, who were involved in terrorist activities, were arrested.

He told the meeting that a number of dacoits were arrested during the period from November 26 and December 31, 2001, in Sukkur and Larkana, while most wanted dacoits were eliminated during police encounters.

Niaz Siddiqi said a network of check posts was being laid on highways and in the kutcha areas to effectively check incidence of crimes.—APP