Policemen without fuel continue transporting citizens stranded in the troubled Orangi Town to safer areas after the Pakistan Rangers-Sindh regained control of its previously-occupied pickets in an operation that lasted up to 14 hours. The police helpline 15 was overwhelmed with numerous calls from Qasba Colony, Bukhari Colony and the Kati Pahari where citizens awaited being rescued.
The local police responded to the citizens’ pleas and rescued them in exchange for compensation. Police charged the citizens for transporting them in armoured personnel carriers (APCs).
A visit to Orangi Town revealed that the Sindh Police had blocked fuel supply to all police stations. Police mobiles remained parked while most terrible incidents of violence in the history of Karachi emerged in Orangi Town. The APCs that were seen plying the streets of the town were not doing so for controlling the law and order situation, but for safe transportation of the stranded citizens. A policeman at the Orangi Town Superintendent of Police (SP) office said that the Sindh Police had blocked fuel supply to police stations. He said that fuel supply had been restored to all police stations of the city, but the Orangi Town police station still awaits fuel to operate.
A while later, an APC was observed entering the SP office for sharing fuel with another APC. An APC driver told this scribe that the police was left with no option but to beg the citizens for money so the stranded people could be shifted to safer areas.
He said that stranded citizens had called the 15 helpline to ask the police for help in being transported out of the troubled town. Following that, the 15 officials informed the police.
He burst into tears when he said that a woman had offered her gold ring to the police because she did not have a single paisa.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Deputy Inspector General-West Imran Yaqoob said that the budget of the Sindh Police could not be released yet.
He said, “The Pakistan State Oil has refused to refill the police mobiles with fuel because of zero balance in the police’s account.”
Police are managing on their own to run their mobiles in different towns, he added. He denied that the police were taking money from the stranded citizens. However, he failed to explain from where the police were getting their money. The fuel-less local police did not participate in the Rangers operation in Orangi Town as well.
They remained engaged in the rescue operation of the stranded citizens.
Later, some volunteers also hired the services of the fuel-less policemen for reaching the affected areas so they could transport food items to the stranded citizens. They paid fare to the police in exchange for helping them serve the crises-hit masses with food items.
