| Authorities gear up for major operation... |
| Wednesday, 02 July 2008 | |
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A joint crackdown by the police and the Rangers against “criminal elements” in Lyari has been decided upon during a recent meeting at the office of the Sindh home minister. The meeting was attended by high-ranking police and Rangers officials. Sources said that a comprehensive strategy and a defined modus operandi was being finalised before the joint Rangers-Police operation is launched. The meeting to review the operation against outlaws and criminals in Lyari was attended, amongst others, by the Sindh home secretary, the Pakistan Rangers Sindh director general (DG), and senior officers of the police department. A senior officer at the meeting told The News that, besides the joint deployment of police and Rangers personnel in the inner corridor of Lyari, 28 exit and entry points have been identified for establishing pickets. About 12 Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) have been arranged for the police and Rangers patrolling. The entire plan would be finalised before the second week of July, he said. The meeting was further informed that cameras with powerful zoom capabilities would also be installed at various selected and identified locations, while snap-checking would be conducted at a number of points in the locality. The Sindh home minister was also briefed about practical problems with respect to manpower and logistics support. The minister asked the CCPO Karachi to collect the details of manpower needed and the logistics support required and put up a summary for approval. Law and order, he said, was the priority of the government and all required financial assistance would be provided to the police by all means. It may be noted here that the locality of Lyari existed before the establishment of Pakistan. It was known as a Kachi Abadi which bordered the sea. Fishing was the main means of support for the residents. After the formation of Pakistan, several people from the Baloch community settled in the area. Many of them had emigrated from Iran. The crime in Lyari was first reported in the mid-70s and 80s. Even then, the level was lower than that reported in recent years. When the gang-war between Rehman Dakait and Arshad Pappu peaked in the mid-90s, several senior heads of the Sindh police made an effort to counter it. They deputed several SPs of the Sindh police to bring the crime graph down and to arrest the warring gangsters. All of them failed. SP Ali Mohsin was then posted in Lyari Town to end the gang war and the gangsters’ criminal acitivies. He led a crackdown against the gangsters, and faced a lot of retaliation. He managed to arrest Rehman Dakait’s brother, Rehim (alias Kana). Dakait threatened the police to let his brother go, and made several heavy attacks on the police. He also led a bomb attack on the police station in Lyari where Rehim was kept under custody. He managed to free his brother, and SP Ali Mohsin was subsequently transferred. Later, Karachi Operation officials SP Aslam Khan, DSP Irfan Bahadur and SP Omer Shahid were posted there to combat the situation. The Sindh government established a specialised Industrial Crime Unit, which was later renamed as the Lyari Task Force (LTF). The unit was initially set up under the supervision of SP Aslam Khan, whose team’s operations against the gangsters in Lyari have been the most successful to date. In fact, Rehman Dakait was put behind bars, and the crime graph bent downwards. The LTF, under the chairmanship of SP Aslam Khan, conducted more then 70 police encounters against the gangsters. The most famous of these was the Hub encounter, where more than 50 accomplices of Rehman Dakait were arrested, while others were killed. However, he was removed after a false encounter case was lodged against him in the Mashooq Brohi case. Subsequently, Rehman Dakait managed to flee after SP Aslam’s removal. After the orginal members of the LTF were arrested, the Sindh police heads deputed SP Dawood Junejo to combat crime in Lyari. When he failed, SP Peer Fareed Jan Sarhandi was posted in his place. He was unsuccessful as well. During his tenure, the CID was also given the charge of Lyari – but to no avail. The senior heads then transferred SP Sarhandi, and deputed SP Fayyaz Khan as the new LTF chief. While SP Fayyaz managed to arrest Arshad Pappu, the Lyari crime graph refused to turn downwards. However, SP Fayyaz claimed to have faced political pressure during his tenure. SSP Raja Omer Khitaab was recently assigned with the task of curbing the gang-war in Lyari. His level of success is yet to be seen. The sale of arms and hashish is still being reported in various areas, wherein gangsters are still moving freely. The gang-war has claimed more than 40 lives over the past year alone. The Rehman Dakait gang’s hideouts include Hub, Malir, Asoo Goth, Sakran, Bawan Shah, Datar, etc., while the Arshad Pappu gang is said to be using Jahanabad, Moach Goth and Yousuf Goth as its base. |
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