LARKANA: Leaders of various political parties and civil society organisations speaking at a multi-party conference welcomed Pakistan Peoples Party’s initiative of introducing a private watch and ward (chowkidari) system to check a sudden increase in street crime in Naudero. They, however, described the initiative a stopgap arrangement, and asked the party leadership and Sindh government to find a permanent solution to the issue.

They said the government should chalk out a plan to effectively deal with criminals and check their activities on a permanent basis. They observed that the law and order in Naudero had considerably deteriorated over the past few months.

The multi-party conference, held in the Naudero Municipal Committee hall recently, was organised by the Naudero Action Committee. Ghulam Haider Narejo and Sartaj Shaikh, the president and general secretary of the committee, respectively, as well as local leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT), Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB), Mazdoor Ittehad and civil society orgnisations, spoke at length. They shared their proposals for the restoration of complete peace and visible improvement in the law and order in and around the town.

One of the participants, Ghulam Sarwar Abro, said that muggers deprived him of Rs18,000 on Friday near the Town Hall while he was going to purchase stock for his shop.

Action committee warns of ‘continuous sit-in’ if crime situation does not improve by 30th

Another one, Saeed Korejo, told the audience that police would always ask a robbery victim for silence after returning some of his looted cash or valuables.

The JUI-F Naudero general secretary claimed that local PPP leaders were getting hard with Saeed Korejo over his complaints.

The MPC participants regretted that residents of Naudero were still facing insecurity and other issues despite the fact that the PPP had been in power in the province for no fewer than 15 years.

Prof Naimatullah Channa said only a few months back, he had lost 22 tolas of gold and Rs22,000 to thieves who had sneaked into his house. Police were yet to recover the booty, he deplored.

The speakers also criticised posting of police officers allegedly on political grounds.

The conference was unanimous in asking the town’s police to ensure recovery of all the money and valuables taken away by muggers and other criminals by Monday (Jan 30). They stressed that the culprits must be arrested to ensure lasting peace in the town.

“If the situation remained unchanged by that time, the action committee would hold a continuous sit-in at Allahwala Chowk,” the participants announced in a resolution.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2023