ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers belonging to the riverine area along the Sindh-Punjab border on Friday decried the poor law and order situation in their constituencies due to unchecked activities of criminal gangs and called for an army operation as the situation had gone beyond the control of police.

Speaking on points of order in the National Assembly soon after a brief question hour, the members belonging to both the treasury as well as the opposition benches, strongly protested against the local authorities, including the police, for “giving a free hand” to dacoits and criminals.

Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf referred the issue to the house committee on interior with a directive to come back with suggestions to resolve the matter.

The issue was raised by Sheikh Fayyazuddin of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) from Rahimyar Khan, who informed the house that dacoits had kidnapped two schoolchildren from Khanpur city earlier in the morning. Recently, he said, a video of two kidnapped men had gone viral on social media in which the dacoits were seen demanding the release of their accomplices from custody. They had threatened to kidnap children, if their demands were not met.

PML-N member tells NA two schoolchildren kidnapped from Khanpur

“Please do something to get these children released,” said the MNA, adding that dacoits in the katcha (riverine area) had made life difficult for local people.

A Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) dissident from Rajanpur, Sardar Riaz Mazari, endorsed the PML-N MNA’s views and said he had been raising this issue on the floor of the assembly for the past four years, but to no avail.

Mr Mazari said several governments at the centre and the provinces had come and gone, but there had been no improvement in the area as far as the crime situation is concerned, exposing the powerlessness of local authorities and police.

“If the task is too tough for police, then use the army,” he suggested, stating that criminals had sent messages to locals asking them to give them five to 10 maunds of wheat as extortion when the crop would be ready. He claimed that even police had informed the deputy commissioner concerned that they could not perform duties during the ongoing census in the area.

Mr Mazari said that on one hand people were still reeling from the effects of rains and floods, while on the other they had been abandoned by the authorities to face the dacoits. He pointed out that criminals and dacoits had extended their activities from Rojhan and Rahimyar Khan, in Punjab, to Kashmore and Ghotki, in Sindh, fearing that soon they would spread throughout the country.

The PTI MNA said that last week he received a call from a PML-N MNA from Okara, Moeen Wattoo, who sought help for the recovery of two men kidnapped from his constituency. Mr Mazari said he informed Mr Wattoo that he could not do anything as his own people were being kidnapped.

Mr Mazari called for a “targeted operation” by army in the area.

Mr Wattoo took the floor and endorsed the call for military operation, stating that police were perhaps not capable of handling the situation.

It may be recalled that the Sindh cabinet on March 10 had approved a plan to procure military grade weapons and surveillance equipment for police to launch a grand operation clean-up against dacoits with the support of Pakistan Army and Rangers in the riverine area of the province.

The cabinet, presided over by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, authorised the inspector general of police to contact the police chiefs of Balochistan and Punjab so that a coordinated operation could be planned in the katcha areas.

The IGP had reportedly informed the cabinet that the weapons and surveillance system were required to take on hardened criminal gangs operating in the riverine area of Kashmore, Shikarpur and Ghotki districts.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2023