President Asif Ali Zardari has taken serious notice of complaints of extortion and poor law and order in Karachi.
Spokesman to the President Farhatullah Babar said the president directed the provincial government and Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday to take action against the criminal elements.
Zardari also directed the interior minister to proceed to Karachi and coordinate with the provincial government in redressing the grievances of the public and traders in particular against extortion.
He said MQM chief Altaf Hussain had brought to the attention of the president the complaints of extortion in Karachi. “The PPP respects its coalition partners and will redress the concerns of the MQM,” Babar quoted the president as saying.
Meanwhile, the interior minister said they would cleanse Karachi of extortionists within five days as 400 additional security and law enforcement personnel would be utilised during the crackdown.
Talking to reporters after chairing a meeting in the National Database and Registration Authority, Malik said extortion was a chronic issue of Karachi, and they were having a complete coordination with MQM chief Altaf Hussain regarding the issue.
He said directives had also been issued to the NADRA chairman to deal with illegal SIM modules of cell phones during the operation.
To a question, he said even the Sindh IG was contacted over the issue, who had informed that six extortionists had been recently arrested, while five others were identified.
