KARACHI Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza has said that every citizen has a right to keep a licensed weapon for his protection especially at a time when political considerations preclude the recovery of illegal weapons in the city.
Speaking in response to a query of MPA Arif Mustafa Jatoi during the question hour in the Sindh Assembly on Friday, he justified the issuance of arms licences to a large number of people during the last one year.
The minister referred to a survey report according to which the NWFP had the country's lowest crime rate. He argued that because everybody possessed arms in the Frontier province, it acted as a deterrent to criminals.
The home minister informed the house that from July 1, 2008, to Jan 31, 2009, a total of 20,084 weapons were registered at police stations and 6,622 with district coordination offices in the province.
In Karachi, he added, 13,943 arms licences were issued, 1,907 weapons were registered at the DCO office and 12,958 weapons were registered at police stations across the city.
In reply to a supplementary question of Humera Alwani, the home minister said that the special protection group (SPG) comprising 1,000 personnel had been formed for swift operation in any part of the province. The SPG commandos had been given special training at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Police Training Centre, Razzakabad, on the pattern of the special services group of the Pakistan Army.
He explained that the personnel selected from the serving police officials for the SPG were being paid a monthly allowance of Rs5,000 in addition to their salaries.
He said that one deputy inspector-general of police and two senior superintendents of police were looking after SPG affairs. He added that the group was deployed in a recent successful operation against dacoits.
In reply to another question, he said the home department was working on a plan to establish its units in other districts of the province.
Besides, he said, a foreign security cell of 700 employees had also been raised for the protection of diplomats and dignitaries. Likewise, he said, an organisation was also created to monitor the working of private security companies, as employees of some of the security firms were found involved in criminal activities.
This fact came to the fore following the country's biggest heist of Rs210 million in the bank recently whose mastermind was an employee of a private security company, he added.
About community wardens, the minister said the force working under the city district government of Karachi had nothing to do with the maintenance of law and order. He said its total strength was between 1,500 and 2,000 men according to his information, adding that the wardens were not authorised to carry weapons and had nothing to do with the Sindh government.
They were being looked after by the CDGK. They helped people park their vehicles and pedestrians cross main roads in the metropolis, he added.
Responding to another question by PPP MPA Humera Alwani, Dr Mirza informed the house that out of 37 people kidnapped for ransom during the first six months of 2008, 34 were successfully recovered by the police and one was killed by his captors. Similarly, 44 kidnapers were arrested and three were killed during the six months.
He said the anti-violent crime cell (AVCC) or citizens-police liaison committee did not encourage people to pay ransom to kidnappers “except in those cases where it's done with a purpose to trap the kidnappers”. The case before the MPA might be the one where captive's family had preferred the payment of ransom on their own, he remarked.
He said that the AVCC, being a specialist investigation unit, was responsible for the detection and investigation of kidnapping for ransom cases. However, prevention of the crime was exclusively the domain of operation branch of police. On its part, the AVCC functioned in coordination with several intelligence agencies and CPLC and developed information network to track criminals.
He said till June 2008, the AVCC busted a number of professional and organised kidnapping gangs, including the Mashooq Brohi gang and the Qadir Nohani gang.
Responding to another question, he said that Thatta police had issued 65 government weapons to private persons for their protection from criminals during the previous government. However, he added, all these weapons had been recovered and deposited in courts.
The home minister expressed his unawareness about an arms theft from a police station but said it was in his knowledge that some weapons were stolen from the armoury of the district court in complicity with a policeman. The weapons were being sold by an arms dealer. “Both of them were, however, arrested,” he said.
In reply to a question of Aamir Moin Pirzada, the home minister said that 1,132 persons were kidnapped in Karachi and 962 recovered while 170 were still untraceable from July 1, 1988 to June 30, 1992. Besides, he said that 4,498 vehicles were snatched in the city during the four years.
Without naming anyone, the home minister regretted the walkout staged in the National Assembly by members of the coalition partner in the government. He said that for political mileage, wrong figures were quoted on the floor of the house about kidnappings in Sindh. He made it clear that according to CPLC figures, 82 persons were kidnapped in 2008, 80 in 2009, and 13 during the first month of 2010. He added that 11 captives had been recovered.
Meanwhile, the house adopted a unanimous resolution in connection with the 266th annual Urs of Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. Paying tribute to the mystic poet, the resolution moved by Sindh Minister for Culture Sassui Palejo with signatures of Ayaz Soomro, Anwar Mehar, Jam Madad Ali, and Syed Sardar Ahmad, stressed the need to understand Shah Latif's message of peace, tolerance, love, equality, struggle and patriotism.
Before the session was adjourned till Monday at 12.20pm by Speaker Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, Sindh Minister for Tourism Shazia Marri made a statement under Rule-215 from the floor of the house to highlight the importance of tourism and its promotion.
Earlier, the chair announced that the governor had given assent to the Bill No-22 of 2009, The Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University at Lyari, Karachi, Bill-2009.
