SC wants Lyari criminal-free in 24 hours

Taking a strong exception to the recent cold-blooded killing of Lyari gangsters, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed Sindh Police to arrest the killers and cleanse the volatile neighbourhood of all criminal elements within a day’s time.
Expressing deep concern over the inhumane assassination of Arshad Pappu, his brother Yasir Arafat and aide Shera Pathan at Lyari’s Birohi Chowk on March 17, Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said killing and mutilating anyone- even criminals- in broad daylight was a desecration of humanity which was unacceptable.
Heading a larger bench to hear the Karachi unrest suo motu case, he said staging such heinous acts so explicitly was an open challenge to the writ of the government, maintaining which was the responsibility of law enforcement agencies, especially the police.
Comprising Justices Jawad S Khwaja, Khilji Arif Hussain, Amir Hani Muslim and Ajaz Afzal Khan, the bench grilled police officials over the Lyari killings and asked for explanation from the Sindh Police IG and Rangers DG over why gangsters were able to turn localities like Lyari into ‘no-go’ areas for law enforcers.
In response, South DIG Shahid Hayat said criminals in Lyari presented a tough resistance.
This response irked the CJ who said the statement by such a high-ranking police officer implied a clear surrender to criminals.
The CJ, subsequently, ordered the Sindh Police IG and Rangers DG to personally conduct an operation in the area and abolish all criminal-infested areas from all parts of the city.
The apex court said peace cannot be restored to Karachi until the city was cleansed of criminals, the no-go areas were abolished and the delimitation process was carried out in accordance with its earlier order.
Addressing Hayat, the court said his statement was unacceptable because it meant everyone was free to take law into their hands.
The CJ reminded the police officer of his duty as well as that of his force, which was to enforce the writ of law and protect the citizens.
The legal counsel of Rangers submitted a report stating that Rangers had no information about any no-go areas in the city, particular in Lyari.
He said whenever such information was brought into Rangers’ notice, an operations was conducted in such areas.
The court rejected the report, directing Rangers to place on record a specific report about the statement made by police regarding the presence of a no-go area in Lyari.
In another report, Rangers informed the court that during the past one year, 65 targeted, cordon and search operations had been conducted in Lyari alone and 258 suspects had been arrested and handed over to the police, adding that all areas of Lyari had been covered in these operations.
The Rangers report said it would carry out a patrolling activity to check and monitor the latest situation in the area.
However, the CJ said a report submitted by Rangers negated the statement from police regarding the presence of no-go areas in city. The court ordered provision of a copy of the report submitted by Rangers to police and directed the police IG to hold a meeting with the Rangers DG at the chief secretary’s office and put up a joint statement- confirming or rejecting the presence of no-go areas in the city, particularly in Lyari.
The bench expressed anger that no permanent IG was appointed, despite its orders. Chief Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan informed the court that a permanent IG would be appointed during the course of the day.
The court inquired from the chief secretary about appointments and postings of 14 high-ranking officials in the police department on a contractual basis as it had earlier directed the provincial government to cancel all such appointments that were contrary to the Section 14 of the Civil Servant Act.
The chief secretary submitted that the chief minister asked the provincial law officer about his opinion regarding the matter who said such appointments were in accordance with the Section 14 of the Civil Servant Act. He said all such officers on contract have been appointed keeping in view the public interest.
However, the court said retired persons should not be appointed in police as it conveys disappointment and demoralises regular police officers.
The court also summoned Anti Encroachment Cell (AEC) SP Irfan Bahadur with a complete report containing details of land grabbing in the city and satellite pictures of lands.