Sindh Rangers has made public a list of 25 ‘most wanted’ absconding gangsters form Lyari, one of the city’s most volatile neighborhoods.
Placed on various public places with colored photos of the absconders, the list carries the name of Uzair Jan Baloch, the self-exiled former leader of the banned People’s Aman Committee (PAC).
According to sources, the names of Lyari gangsters have been publically declared by 93 Wing of the Rangers’ Brave Company.
“Identify the criminal elements and give Lyari a new future,” reads the list placed on the main gate of Jungle Shah College, Keamari.
The college, like many other educational institutes of the city, also houses a number of Rangers personnel who are leading a targeted operation against the target killers, extortionists, terrorists and kidnappers for ransom in this violence-prone metropolis since September 5.
Other absconders that the list displays by their original or nick names include Baba Ladla, Faisal Pathan, Abdul Jabbar aka Jhengo, Asghar Khan, Sardar Kaka Bhai, Amjad Lashari, Lala Zameer, Javed Kana, Lala Mushtaq, Faquir Muhammad alias Fakku, Imran Police Wala, Mullah Nisar, Sikandar Sikoo, Hanif Dada, Sarwar Baloch, Shakeel Commando, Ayaz Zehri, Babla, Malik Arif, Rasky, Amin Buledi, Jasim Golden, Kala and brother of Anis Lumba.
Ever since the now-defunct PAC has split into two groups led by Uzair and Ladla, Lyari has once again turned into a battlefield between the warring gangs.
While Uzair is in self exile, his loyalist Faisal Pathan is believed to have been fighting with Ladla. While unconfirmed reports suggest that he was killed late in September, Ghaffar Zikri is believed to have been supporting Ladla. Mullah Nisar and Jhengo are said to have sided with Uzair.
Except Zikri, all the above-mentioned absconders are on the Ranger’s ‘most wanted’ list.
As the list reads, the paramilitary force has assured the potential informers of full secrecy if the former provided them with a tip-off about any of the notified absconders on the Rangers Help Line: 021-32032629.
The sources said the list was issued by the Rangers Headquarters last week on Friday.
In recent years, the strategically-located Lyari has appeared to be one of the city’s most volatile neighborhoods with politically-motivated violence having claimed hundreds of lives only in 2013.
According to police spokesman Inspector Atique Shaikh, the outgoing calendar year saw in Lyari at least 219 people perished and 265 others wounded from January 1 to December 9.
Giving a breakup, the spokesman said during the period under review 16 cracker attacks killed nine lives and injured 87 others. While in separate incidents, two bomb blasts killed 11 people and wounded 47 in the impoverished vicinity.
The law enforcers, Shaikh said, had conducted 686 raids in the crime-infested Lyari in which they shot dead 45 “accused” in 87 encounters.
The spokesman claimed to have arrested 547 suspects and recovered from their possession a huge cache of arms including 23 kalashnikovs, 260 pistols, 25 hand grenades, two bombs, a dagger and 1451 rounds of ammunition.
“The police are committed to curb crime and would continue fighting against those who are spoiling peace,” the spokesman told Pakistan Today.