ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday stunned the senators by informing them that out of the 103 rape cases registered in Islamabad during the last five years, not a single accused has been convicted.

The information was placed before the Senate by Minister of State for Interior Balighur Rehman in response to a question asked by Sughra Imam of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) about the number of rape cases registered in the federal capital during the last five years and the number of culprits punished.

Senators Imam and Kalsoom Parveen of the Balochistan National Party-Awami (BNP-A) expressed their serious concern over the zero conviction in the rape cases and questioned the performance of the police.

Later, all the opposition senators staged a token walkout to register their protest over the failure of the police in completing investigations in the rape cases.

The minister of state for interior informed the house that out of the total 103 cases registered, challans had been presented in 83 cases only whereas 14 cases were cancelled by the complainants.

Besides, five cases were still under investigation and 53 were pending before the courts.

As far as the number of accused persons is concerned, the minister said, 150 accused had been arrested and 30 of them were acquitted and released. He said in some cases the matter had been settled out of court.

Though the minister admitted that the police performance was not satisfactory, he said the decisions in 53 pending cases were still awaited.

“I agree that there is a need to further strengthen the prosecution. But even in the cases where the prosecution has completed its task, the matter is pending with the courts,” he added.

“We shall try to improve the situation and strengthen the prosecution,” he said and described the non-implementation of Police Order 2002 in the federal capital as a reason behind the less effective prosecution.

The performance of the Islamabad police was exposed again in the Senate when in response to another question asked by PPP’s Surriya Amiruddin, the state minister said 4,068 cars and 915 motorcycles were stolen in the federal capital territory since 2007.

Mr Rehman said the law enforcement agencies had so far recovered 679 cars and 93 motorcycles.

Moreover, he said, 989 accused had been arrested.

When asked what steps the government was taking to check such incidents, the minister said the police had introduced a mobile verification system at different checkposts and during checking impounded 119 vehicles and nine motorcycles allegedly stolen from Islamabad and other districts.

The checkposts have been established at all the important entry and exit points, he said, adding patrolling had also been enhanced.

Police personnel, he stated in his written reply, had been deployed in different sectors to keep a watch over suspicious persons.

The SHOs have been directed to personally supervise all the initiatives against car lifters.

Moreover, the public has been motivated to install safety alarm systems in their vehicles.

He also said lists of previous convicts with photographs had been distributed to all the concerned persons, particularly those deployed at the checkposts.