KARACHI: The Sindh cabinet on Saturday extended the special policing powers granted to the Rangers under Section 4(2) of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 within Karachi division for 90 days from April 16, officials said.

While approving the extension in such powers for the Rangers, the officials said, the cabinet also decided to improve the police’s capacity to deal with heinous crimes and militancy.

The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, advisers, special assistants and relevant senior officers.

Cabinet decides to improve police’s capabilities

CM Murad Ali Shah told the cabinet members that earlier a chief minister used to take such a decision on his own but since the High Court of Sindh had interpreted the government as the cabinet, the extension of powers to the Rangers under ATA had been brought into the cabinet.

He said the Rangers had carried out successful operations against militant wings, extortionists, hitmen and militants in Karachi. In the first phase the government successfully restored peace to the city by focusing on law and order and now reconstruction of the infrastructure of the city had begun.

Mr Shah said the Rangers’ operation against militant wings and banned outfits was praiseworthy.

“Other agencies and police have also done remarkable work and I would say it was good teamwork which has produced excellent results,” he said.

Home Secretary Qazi Shahid Parvez said the Rangers (Sindh) were deployed in the province by the federal government on a requisition of the Sindh government under Article 147 of the Constitution. Previously it was for a period of one year, from July 20, 2016 to July 19, 2017.

The Rangers had been deployed on internal duties since 1995 under Article 147 of the Constitution, Section 131-A of the Criminal Procedure Code and Sections 7 and 10 of the Pakistan Rangers Ordinance, 1959, he added.

The Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, also stood deployed under Section 4(3)(i) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 within Karachi division to discharge their functions as specified in the act as authorised by the Sindh government, lastly for 90 days with effect from Jan 16, which expired on April 15.

Ministers Nisar Khuhro, Hazar Khan Bijarani, Manzoor Wassan, Sardar Shah, Nasir Shah, Jam Mehtab and Ziaul Hassan Lanjar said the Rangers were doing good work, therefore, their powers under ATA be extended. The cabinet unanimously approved to requisition the assistance of the Rangers within Karachi for a period of another 90 days from April 16, 2017.

Budget strategy paper

The cabinet also discussed the approval of Budget Strategy Paper 2017-20.

Finance Secretary Hassan Naqvi briefed the cabinet about it saying with the objective to mobilise own resources and improve public financial management, the Sindh government was implementing the Sindh Public Sector Management Reform Project with the assistance of the World Bank.

He said during the current financial year, the total revenue, revised, was Rs710.4 billion which included Rs550.4bn federal transfers, Rs470bn revenue assignment, Rs54.9bn straight transfer, Rs12.2bn development grants (PSDP and foreign), and Rs133bn OZT. The provincial revenue had been revised at Rs160bn which included sales tax on services Rs78bn, other tax receipts were Rs70bn and non-tax revenue was Rs12bn.

Mr Shah said the vertical distribution across the provinces in the NFC award was based on four criteria of which population was the key one. He said population had been given 82pc weightage, poverty level 10.3pc, revenue generation five per cent and inverse population density 2.7pc. Under the formula Punjab’s share in the divisible pool came to 51.74pc, Sindh’s 24.55pc, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 14.62pc and Balochistan’s 9.09pc.

The cabinet approved the strategy paper unanimously and empowered the chief minister to take decisions as the government.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2017