KARACHI: The Rangers on Thursday released a snapshot of arrests made in interior Sindh during the course of the Karachi operation since September 2013 to date, claiming to have arrested 533 criminals in nearly two years.

The paramilitary force, in a press release, claimed to have conducted a number of operations against criminal elements in Sindh.

In these operations, 478 of those arrested were handed over to police custody for legal proceedings, while the remaining 55 were turned over to other agencies, such as Customs, Federal Investigation Agency and the Irrigation Department.

The deployment of Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, in Karachi is requisitioned under Article 147 of the Constitution and Clause 1 of Sub-section 3 of Section 4 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, authorising the paramilitary force to prevent the commission of terrorist acts or scheduled offences in the notified area for the punishment of terrorists in accordance with the provision of the ATA, 1997.

On May 9, the tenure of Rangers special powers was extended for 77 days only in Karachi division, with effect from May 4. The 77-day period ended on July 19.

Earlier this week, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan wrote a letter to Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah asking him to extend the policing powers of Rangers in the province.

“Unnecessary delay in extension of power to Rangers in Sindh will not only disrupt operation against terrorists but also negatively impact the morale and performance of the civil armed forces,” the minister said.

Relations between the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, and the Pakistan Peoples Party became strained last week when the paramilitary force accused "influential persons" of intervention as suspect Asad Kharal was being questioned for allegedly helping criminals in Larkana. Kharal is said to be a close aide of Sindh home minister Suhail Anwar Khan Siyal and his family.

The ties between the two sides plummeted further when the paramilitary force cordoned off the provincial home minister’s residence in Larkana after the Rangers chief’s assertion that the force could go after criminals anywhere under the laws.

Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had insisted that the paramilitary force was given powers only to establish peace in Karachi and not to operate in the whole province.

He also said that “investigations” were going on to determine whether the paramilitary force had moved beyond its power in the Asad Kharal affair in Larkana.

The chief minister’s stance emerged challenging the paramilitary force’s viewpoint about the powers as Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, director general Maj Gen Bilal Akbar had asserted only a few days ago that Rangers could move in any part of the province to chase criminals using their special powers given under the defined laws.

Background: Karachi operation

The ‘operation’ against criminal elements in Pakistan’s commercial hub was initiated back in September 2013 after the federal cabinet empowered Rangers to lead a targeted advance with the support of police against criminals already identified by federal military and civilian agencies for their alleged involvement in targeted killings, kidnappings for ransom, extortion and terrorism in Karachi.

A high-level apex committee meeting chaired by the Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif on May 14, 2015 decided to implement effective policing and surveillance in the "vast suburbs of Karachi", to prevent what the military spokesperson said were "sneaking terrorist attacks".

Amid resentment and criticism from certain political circles over the ‘Karachi operation’, the military establishment in August said that there would be no let-up in actions by law enforcement agencies “to ensure a peaceful and terror-free Karachi”.

Although terror-related incidents have decreased up to 60 per cent in the two years since the commencement of the Karachi operation, sleeper cells of terror outfits still exist in the metropolis and law enforcers have been making concerted efforts to eliminate the same, Karachi Police AIG Mushtaq Maher said in September last year.

The city police chief had said 3,000 hardcore criminals had been arrested, while 246 terrorists, 38 kidnappers and ten extortionists had been killed so far in police encounters.

Maher had said that car-snatching incidents reported in the city were the lowest in the past 15 years while motorcycle-snatching incidents were on the rise, which he said will be curtailed.

Rangers spokesman Colonel Amjad maintained that 913 terrorists including 550 target killers were nabbed while 15,400 illegal weapons were recovered from the custody of criminals operating within the city.