WHILE urban Sindh, particularly Karachi, suffers from an epidemic of street crime, it is apparent that lawbreakers have also run amok in other parts of the province. Upper Sindh — specifically the katcha or riverine areas — suffers from an atmosphere of lawlessness, as gangs of dacoits take advantage of the difficult terrain along the Indus, as well as the government’s inefficiency, to carve out fiefdoms beyond the state’s reach. The deadly attack on police personnel early on Sunday in Ghotki district illustrates just how powerful the heavily armed bandits are. As per reports, a small brigade of around 150 bandits attacked a police camp which had been set up to help locate hostages who had been kidnapped by the criminals. By the time the guns had fallen silent, five policemen, including a DSP and two SHOs, had lost their lives. The bandits had targeted the law enforcers with heavy weapons, including rockets. The dacoits had also taken away the bodies of the fallen policemen, and had it not been for the intervention of ‘influentials’, the law enforcers’ mortal remains may not have been recovered.

The dacoit problem in Sindh is not new; from the 1980s to the 1990s the bandits had unleashed a reign of terror in the province, and the military had to be deployed in 1992 to restore a semblance of order. Nor is this a problem limited to Sindh, for the notorious Chotu gang has unleashed its share of havoc in southern Punjab’s riverine area. In fact, the prime minister this summer had ordered the launch of a crackdown to go after south Punjab’s criminal gangs. It must be asked how the bandits have access to heavy weaponry; at times, the brigands appear better equipped than the law enforcers. A sustained and coordinated policy involving all three provincial police forces — Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan — needs to be hammered out, as the bandits can be found in areas where the three provincial borders meet. It will make little sense for security forces of one province to clear out the dacoits from their area, only for the bandits to find refuge across provincial lines. Moreover, there is also the question of collusion, as observers have noted that black sheep within the Sindh police are in cahoots with the dacoits, allowing them to escape justice. The Ghotki raid should be a wake-up call, and citizens of the riverine areas need to be protected from these violent elements.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2022