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City violence 40 suspects arrested in
late night swoop: CM
By Imtiaz Ali
Karachi
In a late night swoop,
law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) detained around 40 suspects,
including two nominated in an FIR pertaining to the recent targeted
killings. They will be interrogated by a joint team comprising the
police and federal government agencies, said Sindh Chief Minister
Qaim Ali Shah and Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza.
They were talking to the media at the
Sindh Assembly during the distribution of appointment orders among
178 male and female law officers.
Earlier, Shah chaired a meeting about
law and order at the CM House, which he termed a preparatory meeting
ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit to the city. The CM said that
the violence which hit the city a month ago was “communal” in nature
but the present wave was of a different kind. Shah said that he
would not go deeper into it but reiterated that the criminals would
be taken to task without fear or favour.
He said that the targeted killings of
political activists might be a conspiracy to destabilise the
government and added that whosoever was involved as a “third force
or a second force” would be exposed.
Replying to a question about four
major incidents of violence in the city within a year, Shah said
that the government was trying to find a permanent solution to it.
He said that the PM was coming to the
city for the same purpose. The home minister was also making
concerted efforts while all political parties had been taken on
board.
Shah said that the increasing
presence of LEAs, enhanced patrolling, and setting up pickets manned
by Rangers and the police in the affected areas were some of the
government’s efforts to control the killings.
Dr Mirza said that the LEAs got some
clues about the identity and motive of the culprits behind the
recent killings on the basis of which about 40 suspects were
detained late Monday night. Two of them were nominated in FIRs. He
said that the Rangers had not been given powers to register FIRs.
Earlier, speaking at the ceremony,
the CM said that law and order could be improved through better
conviction rate as it would work as a deterrent against criminals.
In an apparent reference to the
recent Judicial Policy of the Supreme Court, Shah said that murder
cases should be decided within three months as it was a practice
when he was a lawyer.
The CM said that at that time, it was
not easy to get adjournment of cases and three months were deemed
sufficient for presenting a strong case before the court.
He said that according to the
Constitution of 1973, the judiciary should be independent and it was
independent. He said that public prosecutors assumed a crucial role
for providing justice, and the role of the police was also important
for preparing a strong case. He said that good public prosecutors
tended to remove “deficiencies” in the police case.
Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Khuhro
said that public prosecutors were also part of the legislative arm
of the government.
He said that by giving appointment
orders to 178 people, the government had fulfilled a small part of
its promise of giving jobs to the people.
Law minister Ayaz Soomro said that
assistant district public prosecutors, deputy- district public
prosecutors (17- and 18-grade law officers who passed the public
service commission examination) and deputy district attorneys
(17-grade employees on contract) were being appointed as part of the
government’s efforts to provide justice to the people at their
doorsteps.
The News: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 |
