As the special powers provided to the rangers is to expire on February 22nd, the Sindh government has extended the period for another term of three months with the release of at least Rs 170 million outside the budget to maintain law and order situation in the city, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The powers to the Rangers were extended for three months on November 8th last year and the same was extended once again for a period of an additional three more months. Additional powers would be continuously extended to the paramilitary troops until durable peace was restored in the city, but the situation was worsening with each passing day.
The special powers to Rangers were being extended under Section V of the Anti-Terrorists Act 1997 and the practice was being followed since January 2010, sources in the home department told Pakistan Today.
“Authorised officers of Rangers to exercise all powers of police under the code and authorised them to cordon off an area under control of terrorists, criminals, and retaliate, when fired upon, and shall arrest without warrant any person who has committed an act of terrorism or a scheduled offence, and in doing so are authorised to enter and search, without warrant, any premises to make arrest, take possession of any property related to crime, fire-arm, weapon, explosive or any other article used or likely to be used in the commission of above scheduled offence”, according to an official notification.
“Pakistan Rangers shall prevent terrorism in the district and use necessary force to prevent commission of acts of terrorism, take action against target killers, Bhatta collectors and clear no-go-areas, if any,” it added.
Besides this, the Rangers had also sought release of Rs 170 million outside the budget allocation to carryout uninterrupted actions against the criminals in the city. The amount would be released shortly after completion of the formalities, sources added.
Although, the performance of the law enforcement agencies in containing lawlessness particularly, the targeted killings in the province could be gauged with the worsening law and order situation, billions of rupees were still being spent on them. The Sindh government spent Rs 31455.248 million and Rs 33333.289 million in the past two years i.e. 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively.
In 2010-11, the police was only provided with new patrolling cars in the metropolis, besides new luxurious vehicles were purchased for the police high-ups. However, no pragmatic efforts could be seen on the ground to ensure the safety and security of human lives, the sources said.
And in the same period an amount of Rs 33333.289 million was spent on the police against the estimated amount of Rs 30,517.117 million. Last year, more than Rs 30368.152 million was spent on the police force.
Ironically, the heavy platoons of the rangers and FC used to get funds of millions of rupees outside the budget for controlling law and order situation in the metropolis. However, the amount allocated to them last year was Rs 1806.138 million, the sources disclosed.
