JHANG, Dec 20: Over 90 per cent cases of theft, robbery and dacoity have not been registered by police in Chiniot tehsil.
This was told by residents of six union councils to inspection team chairman Fayyaz Bashir during his on the spot inquiry visits on Thursday.
This was in response to a letter written by tehsil Nazim Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah to the governor Punjab alleging Chiniot police for its reluctance to register cases of crime against property.
Chiniot tehsil consists of 44 union councils falling within the jurisdiction of eight police station. They include Chiniot city, Chiniot Saddar, Bhoulna, Lalian, Liangrana, Chenab Nagar, Kandinal and Barana.
The crime rate in the tehsil is much higher than the other two tehsils in the district. Dacoits and robbers operate in the rural areas with a sense of freedom. There are some areas out of bounds for the police and a safe haven for the criminals. Despite having sophisticated weapons and other resources at their disposal, police have failed to check the menace.
Headed by the Faisalabad ASP, teams from Chiniot and Faisalabad had to run away for their lives, leaving behind their weapons during an operation to recover two abducted girls in Jhangar Gilhotran in the police station Kandiwal area.
With this backdrop, police allegedly refuse to register cases of theft and dacoities to avoid cumbersome prospects of encountering these desperate criminals. The morale of Chiniot police has touched bottom low. They had reportedly allowed 14 hardened criminals to escape from the Chiniot judicial lock-up last week.
On receiving complaints, the Nazim got a survey conducted through 21 questionnaires of the 44 union councils of the tehsil. The questionnaires were distributed among people belonging to all walks of life through union council Nazims, secretaries and the staff of tehsil council. The result of the survey revealed that more than 90 per cent of the cases had deliberately not been registered by police.
The tehsil Nazim sent a detailed report to the governor who deputed inspection team chairman Mr Fayyaz Bahsir to visit tehsil Chiniot and conduct a probe. The chairman visited Rajoya, Mathrona, Lialian, Mangowana, Harsa Sheikh and Tahli Manglni union councils. The inquiry team was also accompanied by SSP Jhang, Mr Tariq Masood Yasin, district Nazim Sahibzada Sultan Hameed and tehsil Nazim Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah. Meanwhile the SSP through a handout on Wednesday released crime figures of the year 2001, showing a substantial decrease in the registered cases of dacoity, robbery, theft and cattle lifting in the district compared to the year 2000.
According to the handout, Jhang police have recovered less illicit weapons this year as compared to the previous year despite an extensively publicized campaign launched by the federal and Punjab government.