The Sindh government on Saturday formed a provincial counter-terrorism department in compliance with the National Action Plan to combat terrorism.
The Sindh counter-terrorism department will be headquartered in Karachi, and will have regional offices in Hyderabad and Sukkur, said Sindh Home Secretary Abdul Kabir Qazi.
The provincial government also signed an agreement with NADRA to create a central database to track criminals and to detect and prevent crime and terrorism in the province. The decisions were taken during a meeting of the Sindh apex committee’s sub-committee on Saturday chaired by the home secretary. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Additional Inspector General (AIG) Ghulam Qadir Thebo said that the standard operating procedures (SOPs) had already been formed for the counter-terrorism department.
“We will be recruiting 1,000 personnel especially for this counter-terrorism force, which will have three wings: intelligence, operations and investigation,” said the additional inspector general (AIG).
Before the recruitment takes places, the force will be started with existing “elite, qualified commando-trained personnel” from the police force, he said. Qazi said special prisons would be set up for terrorists. “These dedicated jails for terrorists will be notified in the coming week,” he said.
During the meeting, it was decided that no mosque, seminary, or any other place of worship will be allowed to be built without permission from the government, for which legislation will be carried out. It was also decided that Afghan refugee camps will be shifted outside the Karachi.
Qazi told reporters that there were 2.7 million Afghan refugees in Sindh, who will be repatriated to their home country this year.
THREE KILLED, ONE INJURED IN ACCIDENTS
Three persons were killed and another injured in separate road mishaps on Saturday.
A man, Fida Hussain, son of Jaffar Khan, was killed in a road mishap when a speedy vehicle hit him while crossing the road near ICI Bridge in Mauripur area. The body was brought to Civil Hospital Karachi for medico-legal formalities.
In another incident, an unidentified youth, aged about 20, was killed in vehicle collision when he was going to Superhighway from Tool Plaza. The body was shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) for an autopsy.
Yet in another incident, one unknown person was killed and his colleague injured when a speedy vehicle hit them near Feroze Textile Mills in Suhrab Goth area. The body and injured were brought to ASH for an autopsy and treatment.
ANF FOILS DRUG-SMUGGLING BID FROM PORT
The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on Saturday foiled a bid to smuggle of heroin worth millions of rupees to Malaysia from Karachi port by arresting three smugglers on Saturday.
According to ANF sources, a raid was carried out at Karachi Port and arrested three persons for trying to smuggle 20 kilograms of heroin to Malaysia. The drugs were mixed in a salt consignment and valued at millions of rupees, ANF sources stated.
The case against three accused was filed whereas the concerned authorities have launched the investigation for the arrest of their accomplices.
