KARACHI: Prime Minis­ter Nawaz Sharif approved on Wednesday expansion of the operation against militants and terrorists to other areas of Sindh.

He vowed to take the operation in Karachi to its logical end and continue it till elimination of the last terrorist and restoration of peace in the city.

Presiding over a meeting held at the Faisal Airbase to review the law and order situation in Karachi, the prime minister expressed satisfaction over the falling crime rate in the wake of the operation. He said there should be a fast track policy to capture the terrorists who had fled the Karachi operation and taken refuge in other parts of Sindh.

Know more: Army will go to any extent for Karachi peace: COAS

It was for the first time since the installation of the PML-N government at the centre that a meeting on the law and order situation was not held at the Governor’s House or the Chief Minister’s House.

The meeting was held soon after a function organised by the Karachi Stock Exchange to distribute awards to the top-25 listed companies. Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad attended the function, but left for the Governor’s House before the start of the law and order meeting. It was attended by Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Corps Comm­ander Karachi Lt Gen Nav­eed Mukhtar, Chief Secret­ary Siddique Memon and Rangers Director General Maj Gen Bilal Akbar.

According to sources, the prime minister was briefed on the target operation against criminals by the Corps Commander and DG Rangers. The chief secretary informed the meeting about the progress in implementation of the National Action Plan against terrorism.

Meeting on law and order, held at Faisal Airbase, goes ahead without governor

The meeting also reviewed the situation in the aftermath of a recent raid on the MQM headquarters Nine Zero and its adjoining areas. It was informed about the arrest of convicted people and other criminals from there, investigation and presentation of the accused before courts, cases registered against them in different police stations , recovery of weapons, removal of barriers from different areas in Karachi and crackdown on criminal elements and banned organisations.

The prime minister expre­ssed satisfaction over the falling rate of crimes in the wake of the operation and praised the performance of law-enforcement agencies, especially Rangers.

He said law-enforcement agencies would be provided every possible facility for restoring peace in Karachi.

Mr Sharif also lauded the performance of the chief minister.

According to the sources, the meeting decided to evolve a joint strategy in consultation with other provincial governments and intelligence and law-enforcement agencies for arresting the escaped terrorists.

The meeting also decided that there would be no discrimination and all criminal elements and their patrons regardless of their party affiliation would be arrested and taken to task.

It decided to improve the checking system on all exit and entry points of Karachi and on other routes of the province so that no terrorists could escape.

Investigation would be made more effective and challans of the accused produced in courts as early as possible.

Earlier addressing the KSE function, Prime Minis­ter Nawaz said the Karachi operation had been launched after consultations with all political parties and it was not against any party, but criminal elements.

He said his government’s main objective was to develop and put the country on the road to progress and prosperity. The government would utilise all available resources to bring improvement to every sector, he said, adding that policies being pursued by his government had started yielding positive results and were also being appreciated by various international institutions.

He said that in the past no attention had been given to resolve water and power crises, but now “we are pursuing long- and short-term policies and working on different projects to generate more electricity from different sources, including solar and windmills, coal and LNG”.

“The people of Karachi are satisfied with the operation,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2015

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