Tuesday, 15 March 2016

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Three Important MQM Leaders Arrested by Rangers

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The Supreme Court cannot provide special policing powers to Rangers. Dunya News Report (Yaruq Malik) ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ruled that the request made by Pakistan Rangers to create separate police stations with special prosecution and policing powers requires a legislative intervention which does not reside in the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The three-judge bench, headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim, declared that it was beyond its jurisdiction to amend the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) as the matter falls under the domain of the legislature. The bench ruled that the matter must be sorted by the federal and provincial governments in the apex committee on the Karachi situation. Previously, Pakistan Rangers had requested the Supreme Court (SC)to provide them with ‘special powers’ to investigate, question and prosecute the suspects involved in extortion, terrorism, kidnappings and target killings in Karachi. Moreover, officials from Pakistan Rangers requested the SC to set up police stations across the city. Ranger officials claimed that the request for special powers was made due to the ‘laid back’ attitude of the provincial government and the Karachi city police. According to a lawyer representing Rangers, the provincial government has been slowing down the process of action against facilitators who help the criminals in Karachi. He also added that a major suspect of the Safoora Goth attack had been arrested in 2011 but was released later due to unknown reasons. Interestingly, after the arrest of Uzair Baloch who is the central figure of the Lyari gang war, the serving and former leaders of the PPP are being summoned for multiple accusations of supporting gangsters in Karachi. The Rangers, at first, summoned the former leader of the PPP Zulfiqar Mirza for questioning regarding the Lyari gang war. Following the arrest of Uzair Baloch, officials from the Pakistan Rangers summoned the former president of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Qadir Patel who is accused of providing assistance to the gangsters in Lyari and providing them medical treatment at Dr. Asim’s hospital in Karachi. However, Qadir Patel stated that he is currently residing in London and going through a medical treatment and would not be able to appear in the investigation during the first week of March. He added that he would appear before the Rangers by the end of March after his medical treatment in London is completed. “I cannot reach Pakistan so soon. I have a medical appointment on the 10th of March and will return to Pakistan as soon as I get the report. I will reply to whatever the Rangers ask me. My hands are clean and I have no fear. I will not hide anything that comes under my knowledge.” said the former PPP president. Last month, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif praised the performance of Pakistan Rangers and the law enforcing agencies for their efforts to bring peace and stability in Sindh through the Karachi operation. The Prime Minister added that the federal government has joined hands with the provincial government of Sindh in order to eliminate all forms of extremism in the province. “We have controlled the law and order situation and the time will soon come when we would not need to discuss law and order, but our agenda will be the development of this city,” the PM said. The Prime minister insisted that the law and order situation in Karachi has improved greatly and the remaining elements of street crime must be dealt with immediately. “After controlling 70 per cent of target killings, extortion and kidnappings for ransom, please get rid of street crime,” the PM requested. Furthermore, the Rangers lead operation in Karachi to fight terrorism is being extended to the interior of Sindh in order to eliminate further networks of extremists in the province. The terrorists’ cells are reported to be working in the interior Sindh bordering Balochistan. The extension of the Karachi operation was finalized during a meeting held between Corps Commander Karachi Lt General Naveed Mukhtar and the Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah at the CM House. The implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) was also discussed during the meeting. A possible operation lead by the Rangers was due to operate in Punjab but the ruling party did not accept the recommendation put up by the army leadership in a high-level meeting which was chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The military establishment believes that Punjab police does not have the required equipment or the training to fight terrorists. Therefore, the army leadership recommended that the Rangers should be given the responsibility in Punjab to track and eliminate terrorist networks. In 2013, Pakistan Muslim League-N under Nawaz Sharif took power. Among the priorities was the project to cleanse Karachi from terrorism. The first step to ensure this was to create a National plan to counter terrorism which was later passed as a bill from the National Assembly of Pakistan in 2013. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif initiated the operation in 2013 under the Pakistan Rangers and gave them complete autonomy to strike and eliminate any potential threats. During the first phase of the operation, around 9000 criminals were arrested during 677 raids. The federal government has faced strong opposition from the ruling party (PPP) and MQM. This resistance was due to the multiple raids that were conducted at nine zero, the political centre of MQM, and the arrest of numerous people belonging to the PPP.

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