• Cabinet approves crackdown on street criminals, weapons smugglers
• Mayor to head board of KWSC as chairman

KARACHI: The caretaker cabinet on Thursday decided to suspend internet services in riverine areas of the province and ordered the police to launch a comprehensive operation with the help of Rangers and Pakistan Army to clear hideouts of dacoit gangs holding innocent people hostage there.

The meeting was presided over by caretaker Chief Minister retired Justice Maqbool Baqar and attended by provincial ministers and senior government officials.

The cabinet was given a detailed briefing on upper Sindh situation.

218 people kidnapped this year

The cabinet was informed that 218 people were kidnapped during the current year and of them, 207 had been recovered, while 11 were still in the clutches of the bandits.

Inspector General of Police Riffat Mukhtar informed the cabinet that when he took over, there were 57 kidnapped persons and now 46 of them had been recovered.

He said efforts were underway to recover the remaining 11 persons.

The CM directed the provincial police chief to recover the remaining 11 abductees as soon as possible. He also urged him to direct the local police to keep in touch with the families of the kidnapped persons and keep them informed about the efforts of police.

The cabinet was told that the dacoits in the riverine area of four districts — Kashmore, Shikarpur, Ghotki, and Sukkur — were holed up in inaccessible hideouts fortified by trenches and ditches.

It was informed that the dacoits had long-range military-grade weapons effective against armoured personnel carriers.

In the monsoon and kharif season, the course of Indus flowed in low and medium floods. The riverine area has 238 villages with a population of 400,000 and the provincial police had set up eight police stations and 20 check posts there.

The IGP told the cabinet that they had a plan to establish 390 police posts in the four districts along the protective bund. The police would be equipped with latest weapons and gadgets.

The cabinet decided to launch a joint operation with police, Rangers, and army to clear dacoits’ hideouts.

A crackdown would also be started against organised weapons smuggling gangs involved in supplying weapons to the dacoits. It was also decided that the areas where dacoits operate would be denied cyber and digital space to disconnect their communication.

Over 12,000 street crime cases in eight months

The cabinet also decided to curb street crime in Karachi by launching operations against street criminals and drug mafia.

Home Minister Hariz Nawaz and the IGP briefed the cabinet on overall law and order situation, including kidnapping for ransom in the katcha area, street crime, and drug mafia.

Chief Secretary Dr Fakhre Alam said necessary coordination with the concerned agencies would be made to start the operation against the dacoits.

The cabinet was told that 12,886 cases of street crime had been registered during 2023.

The registered cases included 3,178 snatching incidents of mobile phones, 93 and 2,143 incidents of cars and motorcycles snatching, respectively.

The chief minister directed the IGP to enhance police patrolling and start operations against street criminals. He also directed the provincial police chief to post energetic and efficient policemen in the police stations where more street crimes were taking place.

The cabinet was told that the narcotics were smuggled to the province from other areas of the country. The slum areas of Lyari and Sohrab Goth were the main hubs of narcotics in the city.

It was further informed that drugs and narcotics had also penetrated educational institutions.

KWSC board

The cabinet approved the appointment of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation board with eight ex-official members and six non-official members.

The ex-officio members are the Karachi mayor (chairman) and the Grade-19 representatives of secretaries of local government, finance, P&D, city commissioner, director general of the Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority and the KW&SC Chief Executive Officer.

The non-official members are NED University Vice chancellor Dr Sarosh Lodhi, Zafar Iqbal, Ms Mahwish, Barrister Syed Shabir Shah, Prof Dr Huma Baqai, Tanzeel Pirzada and Kazi Kabir.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2023