RAWALPINDI: Around 8,675 proclaimed offenders (POs) involved in terrorism, murder, kidnapping and robberies are desperately wanted by Rawalpindi police and efforts are underway to get Interpol red notices issued against those who have left the country.

According to sources, about 8,675 proclaimed offenders wanted by the police have been placed in ‘A’ and ‘B’ categories. Of the 8,675 POs, 919 have been placed in category A while 7,756 are in category B.

In 2023, the number of proclaimed offenders was 6,835, out of whom 827 were placed in category A and the remaining 6,008 in category B.

The number of POs added in the police record was 3,462 in the current year. Of the 3,462, around 297 were in category A and 3,165 in category B. The police have so far been able to detain 1,622 proclaimed offenders, out of whom 205 were in A category and 1,417 in B.

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On the directions of Inspector General Police Punjab Dr Usman Anwar, a crackdown against fugitive proclaimed offenders was being carried out without interruption by Punjab police.

Since the number of proclaimed offenders has been rising compared to their arrests, police have also been given a weekly target to apprehend them. If they fail to meet the weekly target, departmental action will be taken against them.

When contacted, Senior Superintendent of Police Operation Hafiz Kamran Asghar told Dawn that police have been working to issue Interpol ‘red notices’ against the proclaimed criminals who had fled the country.

He further said those proclaimed offenders wanted by police in terrorism-related and murder cases have been categorised by police in ‘A’ while those wanted by police other than the ATA and murder cases have been placed in category ‘B’.

He further said police have launched a crackdown against proclaimed offenders as all SPs have been directed to intensify arrests of POs as their number was increasing day-by-day.

He also directed the SPs to assign the task to investigating officers to arrest the POs of categories A and B.

When asked whether the police were approaching Nadra to get the CNICs of proclaimed offenders blocked, which would make it impossible for them to conduct any financial transactions, he said: “Blocking of CNIC of many POs was in process.”

Police have also been directed to get the CNICs of the POs’ relatives as well as their mobile phone numbers blocked to force the wanted persons to surrender.

All SDPOs have been directed to supervise the arrests of POs and review their history sheets. Legal action should be initiated against the properties of POs and to fulfill the weekly target of apprehending the proclaimed offenders.

A proclaimed offender is a person who has been declared guilty by a court under section 87 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) after repeated police efforts to arrest the individual or after they have continuously evaded court proceedings. After that the court declares the individual a proclaimed offender.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2024