KARACHI, April 2: As the law-enforcement agencies fought pitched battles with armed groups in streets of Lyari and a government call for the removal of party flags went unheeded on Monday, President Asif Ali Zardari expressed his anger over the prevailing law and order situation and told the authorities to show no mercy for extortion, targeted killings and street crime.

“We cannot and must not permit the criminal mafia to hold the city hostage to ransom,” the president was quoted by his spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar as telling the participants of a meeting held at the Bilawal House.

The Sindh governor, chief minister, federal interior minister, provincial ministers, the directors-general of the Intelligence Bureau and Pakistan Rangers, the inspector-general of police, and other senior officials of the federal and provincial government attended the meeting held to review the law and order situation.

According to the spokesperson, President Zardari directed the relevant officials to ensure the restoration of peace to the country’s economic hub and bring those involved in criminal activities to book without consideration of their political affiliation.

He called upon all parties to demonstrate political will and purge criminals from their ranks and directed the law enforcers to take strict measures and use the latest technology available to arrest criminals.

President Zardari directed the authorities concerned to equip the police with aerial patrolling gadgets and heavy duty armoured personnel carriers.

He also asked the relevant officials to bring into use geo-fence technology for the localities infested with criminal elements.

Senator Babar said the president also sought a report on progress on the decisions taken at the last month meeting and the difficulties encountered in their implementation.

According to the spokesperson, President Zardari called for carrying out a scientific study on sectarianism, extremism, land grabbing, street crime, targeted killing, political rivalries and migration from other parts of the country. This would help in devising strategies for combating the crimes along scientific lines, he said.

He also called for improved coordination between the law-enforcement agencies and the intelligence agencies.

Malik’s briefing

Giving a briefing on the interior ministry assistance to the provincial government in combating the crime in Karachi, Interior Minister Rahman Malik said a policy had been devised whereby the mobile service providers would deliver SIMs (subscriber’s identity module) to cellphone users at the postal address given in their computerised national identity cards.

Once a SIM was activated and the service provider received information about the EMI number, the service provider would be obliged to instantly convey this information about the cellphone to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, he explained.

Mr Malik informed the meeting that criminal elements had been using stolen and snatched mobile phones in committing crimes by replacing SIM. Now the PTA would automatically be alerted if a SIM was changed in a cellphone, he added.

This together with the geo-fencing would lead to almost instant identification of the location of the unauthorised user of any particular cellphone and facilitate the arrest of criminals, he said.

Core committee meeting

The Sindh PPP core committee earlier met at the Bilawal House and discussed the overall political situation in the province and coalition matters.

Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and provincial ministers Manzoor Wasan, Agha Siraj Durrani, Ayaz Soomro, Murad Ali Shah and Senator Faisal Raza Abidi attended the meeting.

Despite the situation the PPP had to experience at the time of president’s address to parliament and shortly afterwards due to the MQM stance and acrimony between the ANP and the MQM, the meeting expressed satisfaction over the policy of reconciliation being pursued.

Sources said the participants of the meeting were of the opinion that the party should continue to pursue the reconciliation policy in the larger interest of Sindh and the country.

The sources told Dawn that the core committee conveyed to President Zardari the kind of pressure committee members had been experiencing due to the prevailing situation that had made it difficult for them to complete development works.