RAWALPINDI: Police here have been directed to ensure the arrest of over 20,000 proclaimed offenders and court absconders, including more than 1500 involved in heinous crime such as terrorism, kidnapping and murder.

The direction was issued by the SSP operations after noticing unsatisfactory performance by the station house officers (SHOs) in nabbing the criminals.

Additionally, the SPs of Rawal, Potohar and Saddar divisions have been asked to collect the travel history of proclaimed offenders of category A involved in heinous crimes, who have travelled abroad. Since the number of proclaimed offenders has been increasing, the police have also been given a target to apprehend them otherwise departmental action will be taken.

The police are looking for the absconders involved in terrorism, robbery, murder and kidnapping cases and attempts are ongoing to issue Interpol red notices to bring them back from abroad.

Rawal, Potohar and Saddar divisions also directed to collect travel history of absconder involved in heinous crimes

According to sources, the SSP operations issued a directive to all SHOs expressing his dissatisfaction over their performance regarding the arrest of proclaimed offenders and court absconders, saying despite being given targets to arrest them every month, they had not made any serious attempt in this regard.

He said except for some SHOs, others had not shown any interest and attention in this regard; therefore, the SSP gave them a target for December and directed them to constitute special teams to ensure the arrest of a maximum number of POs and CAs.

A police official said the proclaimed offenders had been categorised by the police as “A”, wanted in terrorism related and murder cases. The proclaimed offenders wanted by the police in other than ATA and murder cases have been placed in category “B”.

A proclaimed offender is a person who has been declared guilty by a court under section 87 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). This happens after repeated efforts by the police to arrest the individual or after they have continuously evaded court proceedings.

According to official sources, there were around 10324 proclaimed offenders and 10313 court absconders categorised as “A” and “B”.

However, the all the SHOs have been given a target to arrest 1381 POs and 1476 court absconders in December 2025.

Of the 10324 POs, 708 have been placed in category “A” while 9544 in “B”. Of the 780 POs of category A, 396 were wanted by Saddar Division, 248 by Potohar Division and 136 by Rawal Division.

Of the total 9544 POs in category B, 2601 were wanted by the Saddar Division, 4126 by Potohar Division while 2817 POs were wanted by the Rawal Division.

Of the total 10313 court absconders, 799 have been placed in category A, while 9514 have been placed in category B. Of the 799 of A category, 76 were wanted by Saddar Division, 368 by Potohar and 355 by Rawal Division.

For December, the police have been given a target to arrest 1476 court absconders and submit a report. Of the 1476 CAs, 82 have been placed in category A and 1394 in category B.

In 2024, around 8675 proclaimed offenders were on a police list and efforts had been made for the issuance of Interpol red notices against the proclaimed offenders who had fled the country.

According to sources, about 8675 POs had been categorised as “A” and “B”. Of these, 919 had been placed in category A and 7756 in category B in 2024.

When a police official was asked whether they were approaching Nadra for blocking the CNICs of the proclaimed offenders which would make it impossible for them to conduct any financial transactions, he said blocking the CNICs of many POs was in process.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2025