Daily Times

KARACHI: Rangers revealed on Wednesday that Karachi’s target killers are receiving financial assistance from South Africa, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

While briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights, the Sindh Rangers informed that 7950 operations were conducted across the metropolis since September 2013. Around 6361 suspects were handed over to police and 221 were handed over to FIA and other law enforcement agencies.

1158 suspects were released without registration of the First Information Report (FIR), 1313 released on bail while 188 were convicted in various cases. A total of 1236 alleged terrorists, 848 target killers, 403 extortionists and 143 kidnappers were among those arrested during these raids.

Alleged target killers confessed to targeting 7224 persons in the city, the paramilitary forces stated, while 2470 operations were conducted against those having political association. They further reported that there was 80% decline in terror related incidents, 75% in target killings, 85% in extortion cases and 83% reduction in incidents of kidnapping.

The report comes a day after two army men including Lance Naik Abdul Razzaq and Sepoy Khadmin Hussain were shot dead when motorcycle gunmen opened fire on their pick-up truck near parking plaza in Saddaq area of Karachi.

The law enforcement personnel launched a major crackdown on terrorists and criminals in the country’s economic hub and levels of violence have dropped drastically since then. The city of 20 million is frequently hit by religious, political and ethnic violence.

According to statistics compiled by the provincial police, 390 people have died in targeted killings this year so far – of which 18 were policemen – while the 1,019 killings of last year had 70 policemen.