KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the overall law and order situation in Sindh is satisfactory, but the recent incidents of terrorism called for further improvement of security.

“The government is committed to eliminating street crime,” the CM said, adding that a targeted operation against the drug mafia, land mafia and their patrons was going on in the city. He urged all institutions of law enforcement to join hands for better results.

The chief minister stated this while presiding over the 23rd Apex Committee meeting at the CM House. The meeting was attended by Corps Commander Karachi Lt Gen Humayun Aziz, Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Shah, Minister for Works Syed Nasir Shah, CM’s Adviser on Law Murtaza Wahab, the advocate general of Sindh, Rangers DG Maj Gen Mohammad Saeed, IGP Dr Kaleem Imam, Home Secretary Kazi Kabir, the prosecutor general of Sindh, the additional IG of the CTD and provincial heads of intelligence agencies.

The agenda of the meeting was to review implementation of the 22nd Apex Committee meeting, briefing on the security situation, review of the National Action Plan, discussion on the investigation and prosecution of anti-terrorism cases. During the meeting, important decisions were taken including implementation of the National Action Plan, seminaries and public and private educational institutions, Karachi Safe City project, street crime, CPEC projects’ security, security of shrines and uplift work in katcha areas.

Apex Committee decides no NOC would be issued for new seminaries

The meeting also discussed attack on the Chinese Consulate, blast at Quaidabad and rehabilitation of people affected by the anti-encroachment operation.

Regulation of seminaries and NGOs

The corps commander said that scrutiny of all educational institutions must be conducted, including the regulation and inspection of funds, their utilisation and curriculums.

The meeting, besides deciding that the seminaries constructed on the main roads would be requested to relocate away from the main arteries, said that no NOC would be issued for new seminaries

At present geotagging of all the 10,033 seminaries had been completed which included 2,309 which had been closed, while 7,724 were functional where 547,695 students were enrolled, including 818 foreigners.

Karachi Safe City

Regarding the Karachi Safe City project, the chief secretary told the meeting that the project had been terminated from the public-private partnership (PPP) modality and an advisory committee and a core committee were constituted for devising a mechanism to streamline it.

The Rangers DG said that the project should be not merely installation of cameras but called for devising proper system. The corps commander suggested that with the launching of the Safe City project cybersecurity should be ensured before handing over the project to any operator.

The meeting decided to launch the project within a specified area such as the red zone, Sharea Faisal and the entry and exit points of the city on a pilot basis. The home department was asked to start the project by inviting interest from Nadra, Pakistan Army and Chinese firms.

Street crime

The last Apex Committee had decided to introduce law reforms to control street crime which had been drafted and submitted to the law department for vetting.

The Rangers DG giving a presentation on street crime said that since January 2017, 3,641 criminals had been arrested. He said 43 per cent of the street criminals were under-matric, 38pc illiterate. He said 2,851 street criminals were habitual criminals, 648 drug peddlers, 92 pickpockets and 50 gamblers.

In the light of the last Apex Committee meeting, a standard operating procedure for non-CPEC projects has been notified. There are 93 non-CPEC projects with a 952 workforce of foreigners. The law enforcement agencies have deployed 2,878 personnel for their security.

There are 10 CPEC projects in progress in Sindh where 2,878 Chinese are working. For their security 2,843 personnel have been deployed. Apart from government security, the CPEC projects have been provided 843 private security guards.

In the light of the last meeting, it was decided that appeals against the acquittal of hardened criminals/terrorists would be filed.

The Apex Committee was informed that the names of 62 institutes or buildings named after Altaf Hussain or his family members had been changed.

The home secretary said that the security audit of all 1,899 shrines/dargahs/churches/temples/Jamaat Khanas and gurdwaras had been conducted. Some security weaknesses had been pointed out to the home and Auqaf departments.

The implementation of NAP was also discussed and it was disclosed that out of 119 terrorists, the military and antiterrorism courts had awarded death penalty to 23 and two had been awarded life imprisonment. The meeting was told that 16 terrorists had been executed.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2018