SHIKARPUR/KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that a well-planned and vigorous `operation clean-up’ is being launched against dacoits and their abettors in the katcha area of districts, Shikarpur and Kashmore.
“I have given clear and loud instructions to the police to clean the area and report me.”
This he said while talking to the media just after reviewing the law and order situation of the katcha area here at SSP on Wednesday morning. Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Maher, Regional Police Officer Kamran Fazal, Commissioner Larkana and Sukkur Shafiq Mahesar, DIG Larkana Nasir Aftab, SSP Shikarpur Ameer Saud Magsi, SSP Kashmore Amjad Shaikh, SSP Larkan Imran Qureshi and other senior police officer attended the meeting.
The chief minister said that the police had conducted an operation in which two policemen and a photographer embraced martyrdom. “The sacrifices rendered by the police personnel would not go waste,” he said and added he has received a detailed briefing about the area and has given necessary instruction to the police to burst the gangs of dacoits.
To a question Mr Shah said that law and order was worse in 2008 and no highway was safe in the province. “People used to travel in police convoys,” he recalled and added the Sindh government of PPP had launched several operations against the dacoits and highway robbers and had cleared the entire province.
“Now the situation is comparatively much better in the province but a few areas of katcha belt have some problems where dacoits have established their hideouts, ” the CM said and added that his government was committed to eliminate them.
Replying to a question, the CM said that in the previous operations the police have shown commendable performance. “Our policemen are professional and I am sure they would conduct a successful operation to bust the gangs of a few dacoits in the katcha area,” he hoped.
To a question about the proposed visit of Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid, the chief minister said that he has not been informed about his visit. “I have known through the media,” he said and added that the Interior Minister could visit wherever he wants, including the katcha area of Shikarpur,” he said.
Law & order meeting: In the law and order meeting the Chief minister was told that the Katcha belt of Shikarpur district has the areas of Garhi Tego and Bachal Bhayo spreading over 149,000 Acres where nine police stations, including Naper Kot , Kot Shahoo, Bachal Bhayo, Abad Millani , Jhali Kalwari, Tajo Dero, Jhabbir Shaikh, 20-Mile & Jamalpur were functional.
Challenges: In the area there are some tribal feuds in the area which ultimately end up in creating outlaws against each other and then they start robberies, kidnapping and other crimes. “At this the chief minister directed commissioner Larkano to identify the villages of katcha where roads could be constructed. “With the development of infrastructure, the area would open up automatically,” he said.
The chief minister giving guidelines to the police said that base camps should be established as pre-operation activities. The outlaws should be de-weaponization and forced to surrender for clearing of the area. Proper patrolling should be started in the problematic areas through special teams.
The chief minister directed the Inspector General of Police to prepare a combat force by selecting the best policemen so that operations against the dacoits could prove to be final and decisive.
Gangs: The chief minister was told that different gangs of bandits such as Belo Teghani, Khair Mohammad Khairo, Jhangal Teghani, Mahar Jatoi along with their accomplices were involved in kidnapping for ransom, killing and murders, road robberies and extortion.
Murad Ali Shah directed the police to keep the area cordoning so that no dacoit or his facilitator could escape.“In the operation combat teams should move towards the targets along with APCs and after clearing the area move next target,” he said and added he wanted the entire area should be cleared.
Earlier Operation: The chief minister was told that the operation against the dacoits in the Katcha area was conducted in the wee hours of May 23 to get six kidnapped persons recovered from the clutches of the bandits. Some six APCs were used in the operation. One of the APCs stuck up when its chain was hit with a rocket launcher. The dacoits opened indoctrinate fires, as a result two policemen were killed and eight, including one inspector injured.
The police not only recovered six kidnapped persons from the dacoits safely but killed six dacoits and recovered arms and ammunition, including 12.7 mm guns, RPG-7 rockets, hand grenades, a number of G-3 kk rifles and a large number of bullets.
CM assures families of shaheed cops of full support
Earlier, the chief minister went to the residence of constable Munawar Jatoi killed in the operation against dacoits and offered condolence with his brother Aziz Jatoi. He also met with the children of the shaheed constable. He assured them that the family of the shaheed constable would not be left alone. “The government would be providing educational expenditures/scholarships and would continue the salary of the deceased,” he said. He also assured the family to provide them one job and compensation.
Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah also went to the residence of shaheed photographer Haseeb Shaikh and offered condolences with his father, Safdar Shaikh.
In the office of the SSP Shikarpur, the chief minister met with the families of two constables, Barkat Hussain and Khalid Hussain killed by dacoits in Larkana district last week. Then the police had also killed three dacoits with the help of villagers. The chief minister offered one job to each immediate family member of the killed constable. “We will be giving scholarships to the children of the deceased for proper education,” he concluded.
COVID-19 claims 24 more patients, infects 1293 others
KARACHI (Staff Reporter): As many as 24 more patients of Coronavirus died overnight lifting the death toll to 4,966 and 1293 new cases emerged when 22,043 tests were conducted.
This was stated by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in a statement issued here on Wednesday. He added that 24 more patients of COVID-19 lost their lives lifting the death toll to 4,966 that constituted 1.6 percent death rate.
Mr. Shah said that 22,043 samples were tested which detected 1293 cases that constituted 5.9 percent current detection rate. He added that so far 4,031,934 tests have been conducted against which 313,042 cases were diagnosed, of them 91 percent or 284,695 patients have recovered, including 1273 overnight.
The CM said that currently 23,381 patients were under treatment, of them 22,379 were in home isolation, 22 at isolation centers and 947 at different hospitals. He added that the condition of 883 patients was stated to be critical, including 69 shifted to ventilators.
According to the statement, out of 1293 new cases, 764 have been detected from Karachi, including 277 from East, 159 Central, 108 Korangi, 101 South, 65 Malir and 54 West. Hyderabad has 62, Sukkur 36, Dadu 26, Ghotki 25, Tando Muhammad Khan 22, Jamshoro and Shikarpur 19 each, Badin and Kamber 17 each, Thatta 16, Nausheroferoze and Shaheed Benazirabad 15 each, Larkana and Mirpurkhas 12 each, Khairpur and Sujawal 11 each, Jacobabad 10, Matiari 9, Tando Allahyar and Tharparkar 8 each, Umerkot 7, Kashmore 5, Sanghar 4.
Murad Ali Shah urged people to abide by the SOPs issued by the government.
