Karachi operation against criminals to continue till logical end: PM

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KARACHI (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Friday said that Karachi operation against criminals will continue indiscriminately till its logical end and that it can be fruitful only when immediate conviction and punishment to the criminals is ensured through revised rules and mechanism.These criminals must not get themselves freed from the courts of law because of lack of witnesses and poor investigation. Otherwise, there shall be no use of this much awaited operation, the Prime Minister said in his meeting with business leaders representing various trade bodies especially of Karachi, here at the Governor House.
The meeting was also attended by Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan and Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Federal Minister Lt Gen (Retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch, Jam Kamal Khan, Advisor to the Prime Minister, Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh, Senator Mushahidullah Khan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MPAs and other leaders from Sindh, Inspector General of Police Sindh, Shahid Nadeem Baloch and a group of other senior police officers.
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said that he was informed that since launch of the operation in Karachi, 6200 culprits have been arrested by the police and rangers. Of these, 1408 cases were ready for trial, 4780 culprits are simply in custody, 635 were released on bail, 49 acquitted and only three convicted due to lack of witnesses/proofs and poor investigation.
For ensuring immediate conviction and punishment to criminals, he said, the government had taken certain steps including promulgation of Amended Anti-terrorist Act and that Special Courts of Law were on its cards. A trial must be completed within a week, he said.
He said that under this amended act the culprits would be categorised, hardened criminals would be shifted to other provinces as well and their trials would be held there, and that joint investigation team’s report would be sufficient as an evidence.
The Prime Minister said the criminal elements would be dealt with an iron hand and without any discrimination, to ensure peace in Karachi.
“There will be no politics on this issue. This operation is against the criminal elements,” he said.
The Prime Minister said the government would not let anyone exploit the situation and in no way it would be blackmailed.
He regretted that the issue of law and order in Karachi should have been resolved much earlier.
The present government, he said, was working with full commitment and would take the issue to its logical end. The operation was restricted to incidents of target killings, terrorism, extortion and kidnapping for ransom. Now, its scope would be expanded to other things as well.
“We will not let the operation to loose its pace. Karachi must be peaceful,” he asserted adding that the operation was launched after consultation with all political parties here, the businessmen and media.
He sought the cooperation of businessmen and media to make the operation successful and to bring peace and security in Karachi.
About the issue of terrorism, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recalled that the government had finalised a programme to initiate dialogue with the Taliban and a delegation was also scheduled to leave the next day when the process was impeded.
He, however, reiterated the government’s desire to have talks with Taliban for making Pakistan a peaceful country.
“We want dialogue with the Taliban and do not want more bloodshed of our brothers and sisters”, the Prime Minister remarked.
When President, India-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, S.M. Muneer raised the issue of shortage of dollars in the market, Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said, the issue was being discussed regularly and hoped a solution would be found soon.
Senior businessman Mian Zahid Hussain pointed out that there was only one mobile phone locator with law enforcing agencies in Karachi. In China, he said, each police station has one locator.
Chairman SITE Association of Industry, Younas M. Bashir called for a package from Federal Government for the law enforcing agencies here which should include deployment of additional police force from other areas of the country and more gadgets like mobile vans to enhance their capacity for maintaining law and order in Karachi.
He also pointed out that SITE industries were faced with short supply of gas.
Former president KCCI Muhammad Zubair Motiwala called for continuity of the operation till the desired results are achieved.
Chairman, Small Traders Association, Attique Mir maintained that criminals were still active in various areas of the city including Shershah Market.
He cited an incident of extortion in which a criminal during his stay in Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj telephoned a businessman here and ordered him to pay a monthly amount of extortion to his fellow criminal.
He also drew attention of the Prime Minister towards illegal/ unregistered SIMs of mobile phones and described these as very sensitive in maintaining law and order in Karachi.
Former president of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Siraj Kassam Teli also showed his serious concern on these illegal SIMs maintaining that most the crime were being committed through these.
He repeated his proposal that all the illegal SIMs be cancelled in one go and be re-issued by mobile phone companies under a certain
policy/ mechanism meeting all concerns of security. The SIMs be re-issued only at their franchise/ outlets on producing original CNIC
by the customer and delivered at the residential addresses mentioned in the card through courier service.
The Prime Minister assured of immediate action in this regard.
Chairman of Association of Builders and Association (ABAD) Mohsin Sheikhani pointed out that land mafia here was a serious threat and hindrance for builders and developers.
He underlined the need for developing good infrastructure in the country so that construction industry could grow.“Construction can not grow without good infrastructure,” he asserted.

Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - Karachi operation against criminals to continue till logical end: PM