Daily Times

There were many incidents of robbery, murder, kidnaping, abduction and other serious crimes in 2019, but the Islamabad police have not only refrained from sharing crime data but also changed the facts and figures tactfully.

This year, despite more crimes than ever in the past, Islamabad police, keeping the facts secret, issued a press release on Islamabad as a crime-free city, in which the Islamabad police made such tall claims which seems to be amusing and ludicrous. Islamabad police tried to take the credit by sorting out of some major cases but unable to give detailed report on hundreds of street crimes and dacoities.

In a press release issued by Islamabad police, it is claimed that Islamabad Pakistan is the safest city of the country due to the hard work and excellent teamwork of the Islamabad Police.

Press Release says that crime rate declined in Capital during 2019 due to effective policing measures, hard work of the personnel of the force and unique initiatives for improvement in performance.

It also says that Islamabad police obtained great achievements during the tenure of incumbent Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar Khan and succeeded to bring decline in crime rate during 2019. Owing these efforts, Islamabad has been declared as 85th Safest City as per World Crime Index of 328 cities of the world. Its position, as per crime index, has been declared better than Amsterdam, Boston, Toronto and Oslo while United Nations also declared it as a family Station for its staff after 12 years.

According to the data, the crime rate in Islamabad declined in 2019 as compared to the previous year while effective crackdown was launched against drug pushers and bootleggers following directions of IGP Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar Khan.

Police said that murder cases declined up to 13 percent in 2019 as compared to the previous year while cases of kidnapping for ransom, dacoity, snatching items and burglary decreased up to 50 percent, 31 percent. 13 percent and 26 percent respectively. During 2019, 19 blind murder cases were traced and 37 accused involved in these cases were apprehended. These cases mainly include murders of Major Laraib, ten-year old Farishta, Kamishka and Umer Rathor.

Meanwhile, 100 kidnapping cases of children were resolved and they were safely reunited with their families. As per directions of IGP Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar Khan, special campaign was launched at educational institutions to create awareness among youth against menace of drug while more recovery of narcotics was made in 2019 as compared to the last year by registering 286 additional cases of wine and drug selling. Islamabad Police Chief Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar Khan visited more seven educational institutions including universities and colleges and addressed 8000 students to raise awareness among them against use of narcotics.

In 2019, Islamabad Police provided security to 4615 national and foreign VVIPs and VIPs which mainly included the visit of Saudi Crown Prince, British Royal Couple, Prime Minister of Malaysia, Vice President China, Ameer of Qatar, Queen of Netherland and Sri Lankan Cricket team.

Prime Minister of Pakistan gave approval for new induction in the force and 1055 police officials and jawans were recruited in Islamabad police. These new recruitments resolved the pending issue of shortage of personnel in the force while 500 policemen from rank of Constable to Inspectors and 17 Inspectors to the rank of DSPs were promoted. These all steps were lauded by each official and jawan of and it encouraged them to work more devotedly for good image of the force.

A total of 6000 personnel of Islamabad Police participated in professional skill development courses conducted by national and foreign experts while 174 policemen visited abroad as part of their capacity building.

Likewise, Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) endeavoured for safe road environment in the city and road accidents decline up to 20 percent in 2019 as compared to the corresponding period. ITP issued fine tickets worth Rs. 236.68 million while service was introduced to issue driving license in a single day.

Rescue 15 received 1.2 million emergency calls during 2019 of which 62,000 related to police were promptly responded. The average response time remained six to seven minutes against these calls, police claimed.

Islamabad police set up Internal Accountability Unit and took disciplinary action against 686 police officials following complaints of citizens. IGP Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar khan introduced email service (ig.ict.at.your.service@gmail.com) which received 518 complaints of which 510 were addressed.

Islamabad Police also takes the credit of handling of peaceful sit-in of JUI-F. Police has claimed that they have successfully handled sit-in of JUI-F in the Capital and no untoward incident happened while smooth traffic flow was also ensured on the occasion. The efforts of Islamabad police to maintain peace and tranquillity on this occasion were widely appreciated by the citizens.

It is important to note that the incidents of street crimes including robberies have been increasing in Islamabad over the past several years. Islamabad police did not share the crime data at the end of year deliberately. Moreover, issuing of press releases were started to just cover up the crime scenes and escaping from data sharing about the crime rate. The process of registering FIRs has also been delayed till next year to just show the better performance, sources said.