KARACHI: Administrator Karachi and Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister Murtaza Wahab on Wednesday asserted that the draft law for legislation on e-tagging of 7,500 habitual criminals had been prepared and sent for vetting.
He announced the development during a meeting on the law and order situation in the port city presided over by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah. The Chief Secretary Sindh, Inspector General Sindh Police (IG), Additional IG Karachi, Secretary Home, and others attended the meeting.
According to the statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office, during the meeting, “the chief minister formally approved the proposal of e-tagging of repeat offenders and directed his law adviser to expedite its vetting so that it could be discussed and approved in the provincial cabinet.”
Moreover, CM Shah directed his adviser on law and Sindh Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Maher to engage a “panel of leading lawyers” for prosecution in cases against repeat offenders and the cancellation of their bail.
CM Murad directed police officials to make arrangements for engaging “competent private lawyers” for prosecution in high-profile cases. “I want to put a sizable number of lawyers on a panel and the complainant of the case will have the choice to select any lawyer out of the panel to prosecute their case,” the statement quoted him as saying.
“I have given police with every resource and now I want results, I want Karachi free of street crimes,” the chief minister said and asked the top cops to dismiss police officers who are found neglecting their duty besides also directing them to submit a day-to-day report on police patrolling and crackdown against criminals.
Sharing the progress on this front, the Karachi police chief told CM Shah that from January to February 28, there had been 143 encounters by police, in which 15 street criminals were killed, 147 were injured and 1,446 were arrested.
The Karachi police chief told the participants that 7,500 street criminals in the metropolis, who were either on the run from the law or out on bail, were identified as repeat offenders.
The chief minister was told that patrolling had been increased in the city and intelligence-based targeted operations were also in progress.
Rehab for drug addicts
CM Shah also recalled that he had previously issued instructions for police and the city administration to take drug addicts off the streets.
In this regard, Sindh Chief Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah said a suitable place had been identified in the city’s Gulshan-i-Maymar area to set up a rehabilitation facility for such drug addicts.
The chief minister issued directives to ensure the availability of all the needed facilities at the proposed rehabilitation centre so that police could begin moving drug addicts there from the streets.
“Drug addicts are involved in street crime and, therefore, their removal from the street[s] is [of] utmost importance,” he said.
