RAWALPINDI, Nov 6: The number of proclaimed offenders (POs) has risen to 1,445 in the last 10 months, and the police have failed to meet the deadline to arrest them.

According to official sources, an inquiry ordered by Inspector General of Police, Punjab, Malik Asif Hayat brought to light cases of 390 proclaimed and more than 350 court offenders which had not been registered by Rawalpindi Range police.

In the wake of the inquiry report, the IGP had given a deadline to Rawalpindi police to arrest the POs by January 30, 2002. Instead of meeting the deadline and arresting the culprits, the number of POs had further increased which clearly spoke of the poor police performance.

A senior official of the Rawalpindi police said the failure of the police to arrest POs was one of the reasons which had given rise to street crime in the district.

He said: “The crime rate increased because of the proclaimed offenders, therefore, campaigns against POs are launched time to time by the police.”

The statistics, collected from the police department, showed that the number of POs had risen to 855 and that of court offenders to 590 during the period from January 1 to October 31.

According to the statistics, seven proclaimed offenders had to be arrested by the City police station, 65 proclaimed and 20 court offenders by Ganjmandi police, 17 POs by Pirwadhai police and 42 by Waris Khan police. As many as 179 POs had to be arrested by Civil Line police, 61 by Airport police and 30 by Cantt police. Likewise, 87 POs, including 76 proclaimed and 11 court offenders, have to be arrested by R.A.Bazaar police, 55 by Westridge police and 80 by New Town police, the statistics showed.

Similarly, 50 POs — 34 proclaimed and 16 court offenders — have to be arrested by Banni police, 258 POs by Sadiqabad police, 42 by Murree police, 11 by Kotli Sattian police, 38 by Kahuta police, 12 by Kallar Saidan police, 56 by Gujar Khan police.