HYDERABAD: Sindh Inspector General of Police Ghulam Hyder Jamali said on Saturday that just two years ago police faced a complex situation but they managed to bring everything under control and now the “law and order situation in the province is close to ideal”.

After having successfully tackled the situation in Karachi and the rest of the province “today we find time enough to indulge in sports activities which is a very positive sign,” said the IGP while speaking at ‘police sports festival’ organised by the Hyderabad range of police at the police ground.

He paid tribute to policemen who laid down their lives in the line of duty for the restoration of peace and praised media for backing Sindh police in its efforts to restore peace to the terrorism-torn city of Karachi.

“Everything is now under control [in Karachi], be it bank robberies, targeted killings, terrorism or kidnapping for ransom,” he said.

He said that kidnapping for ransom which had become a chronic and routine crime in rural parts of the province had almost been eliminated. “There is a remarkable improvement in the situation which is close to ideal I dare say,” he said.

Police as a department would now move forward. “We are now turning our focus to bringing improvement in the working and atmosphere of the police station which is the basic unit of policing,” he said.

He said that since the community was directly linked with the police station, policemen needed to be cordial with the general public, especially women, children and vulnerable communities.

He said that some basic changes were to be introduced in police station’s functioning. Some decisions had been taken which would yield positive results and bring a qualitative change in police behaviour at the police station level, he said.

He said credit went to Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, the home minister and the political leadership of the present provincial government for the improved situation.

“[Police’s] salaries have been raised and the heirs of the martyred policemen now get compensation. These measures have a cumulative financial effect of Rs7bn to Rs8bn,” he said.

Institutions like SZABIST had promised to impart education to the children of slain policemen and plots had been given to the heirs in recognition of the martyrs’ services, he said.

To improve operational capability of police, he said, police had been armed with bombproof vehicles, armoured personnel carriers and satellite-based locators to meet modern day challenges of crime combating and terrorism.

He thanked Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and the Karachi Corps Commander for providing latest training to Sindh police officers and policemen at the army facility in Kharian.

He praised Hyderabad SSP Irfan Baloch whose five team members lost their lives in an encounter in January 2015 in Mirpurkhas, which also led to the killing of a notorious bandit, Chutto Narejo. “The incident in fact gave impetus to police efforts for restoration of peace,” he said.

Later, he told journalists that the case of the attack on Hyderabad Press Club on Friday would be lodged and taken to its logical conclusion. Police would not spare anyone in this regard, he said.

He said that when the apex court took suo motu notice of lawlessness in Karachi, the city witnessed 4,000 murders in 2011 alone. Now only sporadic incidents of murders and those too mostly driven by personal enmity were reported, he said.

The IGP said that out of 750 police stations 100 would be provided new buildings. Of them, 30 were in Karachi and 70 in the rest of the province.

About the second joint interrogation team report (JIT) on Baldia factory fire involving defecting MQM leader, Anis Kaimkhani, he said: “The JIT has reached the home secretary’s office and he has not yet seen it so he can’t comment on it”.

He dismissed a question about his weak authority within the police department and reports of irregularities in recruitment, saying “such things do happen in the department”.

DIG police Hyderabad range, Khadim Rind, SSPs Irfan Baloch, Fida Hussain Mastoi and others were also present.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2016