KARACHI, Nov 22: Sindh Home Minister Rauf Siddiqui told the Sindh Assembly during question hour on Tuesday that all SHOs in the province had been bound down to register every FIR without any apprehension.

In reply to Mohammed Rafique’s question, he maintained that hitherto the SHOs had been avoiding to register FIRs due to the apprehension that this would show an increase in crime rate and thus could affect their performance.

The minister said now they had been told that registration of FIRs would not affect their performance and, therefore, they should register any complaint brought to them so that the authorities could have a proper assessment of crimes.

He said people had been advised to lodge an FIR of any offence committed as this would help the government in having correct statistics of crimes.

To another question, Mr Siddiqui gave figures regarding robberies, dacoities, theft, kidnapping, murder and other crimes as registered at Sakro, Gharo, Sujawal, Banno and Jati police stations of Thatta district between January and June 2003.

He said cases were registered when a complainant approached the police whereas the state would come to the fore only when a complainant, instead of approaching the police, brought the matter to the notice of the concerned authorities.—APP