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2009-05-02 India-Pakistan
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Law and order is the top priority of government: PM
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 [Associated Press of Pakistan] Prime Minister, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani Friday said that the law and order is the top priority of the government. He was chairing a law and order meeting at the Chief Minister House, which was attended by the representatives from all the coalition partners in the provincial government and the representatives of the law enforcement agencies.
The meeting was also attended by Governor Sindh Dr. Ishrat ul Ebad Khan, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, federal ministers Dr. Babar Awan, Senator Babar Khan Ghauri, Sindh Home Minister, Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza, Dr, Farooq Sattar of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Shahi Syed of Awami national party, Sindh, secretary Interior, Kamal Shah, Director General of Rangers, Maj. Gen. Liaquat Ali, IGP Sindh and CCPO Karachi.
The Prime Minister said that the meeting helped him in identifying the root causes of the law and order situation in the metropolis and the recommendations adopted in the meeting would effectively help in addressing the problem.
Continued from Page 2
Meanwhile, at the very outset, the Prime Minister expressed grave concern over the recent incidents of violence in Karachi which claimed 30 lives and left 31 persons injured.
He described the killings as tragic and said that the entire nation is concerned about these incidents.
The Prime Minister said that Karachi is not only country's industrial hub and its engine of growth, but it is also a mini-Pakistan.
He said that his visit today was aimed at getting first hand information and the federal and provincial governments would jointly chalk out a strategy to remedy the situation.
Yusuf Raza Gilani said it was an opportune moment as they were all sitting together.
He remarked "Where there is a will there is a way," and added that if a decision is taken then it would take us forward towards remedying the situation.
The Prime Minister said that the strength of the police would be doubled and the federal government would provide the finances for increasing the number of police officials and equiping them with required weapons.
Yusuf Raza Gilani declared that government will take everyone along and stated that there is a need to show political will to strengthen the country's institutions.
He said that he would also talk to chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Altaf Hussain, Chief of Awami National Party (ANP), Asfandar Yar Wali and the Co-Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), besides convening a meeting in this connection.
He stated that there is a need for cooperation on part of the coalition partners and the law enforcement agencies to set the things right.
Referring to today's meeting, he said that there was an agreement on the major issues and added that such meetings should be held on regular basis.
He also emphasised the need for holding meetings of the coalition partners at grassroots levels.
The Prime Minister said that today's meeting has endorsed the political and administrative decisions that were taken at the meeting of the coalition partners in their meeting yesterday.
He stated these political and administrative decisions are in the right direction and need implementation.
He said that we all together have to address and resolve the law and order situation.
The Prime Minister said that vacant posts in police would be filled speedily.
He said that he has directed the Finance Department to release funds from the exchequer and the amount would be reimbursed when we get the funds from the Friends of Pakistan Forum.
He stated that a national policy against terrorism would be framed on the recommendations of all political parties, provincial governments by taking all stakeholders on board.
Speaking on the occasion, Governor Sindh, Dr. Ishratul Ebad Khan, thanked the Prime Minister for coming to Karachi to get the first hand information about the recent incidents of violence in the metropolis.
He said that ethnicity and sectarianism are two grey areas particularly in Karachi and in the province of Sindh with reference to peace and law and order.
The Governor said those who want to harm the country by destabilizing Karachi are exploiting these grey areas.
He was of the view that confusion on the grassroots level be removed so that vested interests could not exploit the grey areas.
In his briefing on the occasion, the Director General Rangers, Sindh, Maj. Gen. Liaquat Ali, said we need to understand the environment. The situation is very serious and immediate action is required. In his candid analysis he was of the view that it was not a law and order situation rather it was a large scale unrest.
He was however optimistic that after Thursday's meeting of the coalition political parties in the provincial government, things would improve.
The DG Rangers Sindh said that strength of the police on paper was 24,000 and that strength of Rangers was one third of that strength.
He was of the view that the strength of the police was less and the training of policemen was also not up to the mark and that there is a need to strengthen the police force.
The Inspector General of Police Sindh, Sultan Salahuddin Babar Khattak, said that 30 people were killed and 31 injured in recent acts of violence in Karachi.
He said that 15 mini buses, four trucks and six other vehicles were set ablaze. Nine shops and tea stalls were also burnt.
The IGP said that 62 cases have been registered and in 32 cases the accused have been rounded up.
He said that the present situation is that incidents of violence have abated.
Sindh Home Minister, Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza, complained of lack of resources for maintaining the law and order.
He said he has already conveyed the requirements to the Interior Minister.
The CCPO Karachi, Wasim Ahmed, said that there is a need of some 50 APCs for Karachi.
He said that population of Karachi is double that of lahore but the strength of police in the two cities is almost equal.
The CCPO also indicated the presence of lot of weapons in Karachi and said that there is a need for verification of licenses of weapons in the city.
The Home Secretary Sindh apprised the Prime Minister of the recommendations that were adopted at Thursday's meeting of the coalition partners in Sindh Government at the chief minister House.
These included curbing the activities of the land mafia, removal of parties' flags and chalking. As many as 11 places were identified for setting up of police and rangers pickets. Formation of Joint Investigation Teams (JITs). Individual arrested by Rangers be kept in Rangers custody for three days for questioning.
Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister Senator Babar Khan Ghauri of MQM called for action against land mafia irrespective of any party affiliation.
He said that no one is against Pakhtoons and that we are living together for the past six decades.
Babar Ghauri was of the view that encroachments were carried out in the guise of 'mosques' and 'madressah'.
He further stated that there was no conflict of Mohajir-Pukhtoon and that it was a law and order problem.
Shahi Syed, Sindh chief of ANP, was of the view that peace cannot be maintained at gun point.
He said there should not be any discriminatory approach against the Pukhtoons.
Shahi Syed also spoke of the problems the Pukhtoons face at the time of getting national identity cards.
He said in recent acts of violence in Karachi the poor people have suffered.
Dr. Farooq Sattar of MQM said that it is our collective responsibility to remove the root causes of the problem.
He was of the view that there should be integration of the three coalition parties at the workers' level.
Dr. Farooq Sattar demanded that the master plan evolved by the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) for the metropolis should be implemented.
He also suggested that committees of the MQM and ANP should be formed at the grassroot level for the betterment in the city.
Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Federal Minister Dr. Babar Awan, and Interior Secretary, Syed Kamal Shah, also attended the meeting besides Sindh Chief Secretary, Fazal ur Rehman, and representatives of the law enforcement agencies. 
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Posted by Fred 2009-05-02 00:00||
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