Political parties armed wings behind unrest: DG Rangers

[Edevelop]

Karachi—Director General Rangers (Sindh) told Supreme Court that armed wings of the political parties are involved in deteriorating law and order situation of the metropolis.

DG Rangers made this submission when the apex court asked which power was stopping the police and Rangers from implementation of law in the city. A five-member Bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry resumed follow-up proceedings to review implementation of orders passed in suo motu case pertaining to law and order in Karachi During hearing, Chief Justice remarked situation in Karachi is worsening day by day. He said that if DG Rangers cannot accept responsibility then he must admit failure.

DG Rangers told court that political workers involved in major crimes were apprehended but they were bailed out later.“If such criminals are not being brought to justice, how will peace prevail in the city?” he said DG Ranger told court that 38 Rangers were killed in the past ten months.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry asked the Sindh Advocate General to submit a detailed report on past two years progress regarding steps taken for the curbing of the crimes in the city. The CJP asked him to submit report so that the supreme Court of Pakistan should see what measures the Rangers and Police had taken for the eradication of target killings. extortion, kidnappings for ransom, land mafia and gangs of the hardened criminals during last two years commencing from 2011 till date.

The CJP also directed the Sindh Rangers Director General Maj. General Rizwan Ahmed and the Inspector General of Police, Sindh to submit one month detailed report before the SCP on Thursday (today) regarding their performances for the improvement of law and order in the city.

The CJ issued these directives during the hearing of the Karachi Lawlessness Case (KLC) at the SCP Karachi registry Wednesday. The KLC hearing was conducted by the CJP Justice hearing 5-member bench which included Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Athar aeed, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed.

Sindh Chief Secretary Muhammad Ejaz Chaudhry, Sindh IGP and other officials also appeared before the Bench.

The CJP asked the IGP to present a detailed report on law and order from 28.4.2011 in the city and apprise the Bench as to why Police and Rangers failed to maintain the law and order in the city. In last 10 days, the criminals had gunned down 100 citizens and despite the fact that the apex judiciary was standing beside the law enforcement agencies (police and Rangers) then how come they had failed to eradicate the lawlessness from the city.

On the occasion, the CJP in his remarks said that it was a fact that police stations were sold out to the blue-eyed due to which police was unable to perform.

The DG Rangers apprised the Bench that Rangers had arrested many hardened criminals but they were released by the courts on bail while Rangers had only the powers for search and arrest.

In response to Rangers DG’s statement, the CJP said that there were 25 anti-terrorist courts in Sindh province of which 18 were in Karachi alone.

The CJP asked the Sindh Prosecutor General (PG) Shahadat Awan to explain to the Bench as what was the progress of the ATCs regarding settlements of criminals cases and the PG apprised the Bench that rate of settling the cases at the ATC had improved to 34 percent.

On one occasion, the CJP said that the bench was not here to listen to the excuses on political grounds but the bench was here for ensuring that since there was a democratic government in the province so all had to stay within the boundaries of the constitution.

Justice Jawwad S Khawaja on one occasion said that how was it possible that the judiciary should avoid playing its role in a situation when the people were being killed in incidents of extortion.

The CJP said that Rangers and police was responsible for the situation in the city. Rangers had also the powers of arresting the criminals.

The CJP asked the Rangers DG to explain as who had stopped them from performing their constitutional duty. Rangers and police did not come up with any remarkable progress.

On the other hand, the Advocate General Sindh Khalid Jawaid, after the hearing talked to the newsmen.

He informed the newsmen that the SCP had directed to present a detailed report starting from 2011 on the judgment, progress of Police and Rangers for the eradication of extortion, kidnapping for ransom, land grabbing issues and other heinous crimes in the city.

He claimed that Rangers and police had been making all their best efforts for protecting lives of the citizens in the port city. The Sindh provincial government had the capacity to maintain the law and order in the city; however, the population of the city had increased upto 20 million and the provincial government was making all efforts to resolve the issues of lawlessness. The apex court would resume the hearing of the KLC on Thursday (today).

Political parties armed wings behind unrest: DG Rangers