Daily Times

Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Sheikh, Tuesday, stressed on stringent action against outlaws to curb rising incidents of crime in Karachi.

The opposition leader paid a visit to Shah Faisal Colony of district Korangi to express solidarity with the affected shopkeepers whose cell phone shops were robbed for the second time within time span of a few weeks.

Haleem Adil Sheikh while speaking traders and later to media persons at the occasion said that citizens of Karachi had been left by PPP Sindh government at the mercy of robbers but Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is with the traders and would do everything possible to help them.

The mobile phone shops where the repeated robberies took place were situated on main double road in Shah Faisal Colony, Haleem Adil Sheikh said adding that a robber involved in the first robbery was caught who also told police names of all his accomplices but the police had not made any progress or recovery.

If those six robbers were caught it would not have happened again, he said and added that in the city of Karachi, the fear of law had been eliminated from minds of criminal elements because they know that no action would be taken against them.

The law and order situation in Karachi has turned worse and any dacoit if caught was released after some time, he said suggesting that the prosecution department was more to blame than the police as public prosecutors had become facilitators of criminals.

The robber who killed a citizen Shahrukh Saleem and committed suicide was also a police official, Haleem observed and added “Now there is only one option left and it is elimination of robbers from our society.”

Haleem Adil Sheikh demanded that operation should be carried out by Rangers in Karachi and assets of police officers acting as facilitators of crime should be checked to unveil sources of their illicit income.

He said that a piece of land owned by Ansar Burney was illegally occupied and plotting was under way in the Malir river bed while a government park in Korangi No. 5 was handed over on fake documents to Younis system and a petrol pump has been constructed there.

Affected shopkeeper Kamal Agha and others told the opposition leader that police after the first incident of robbery was requested time and again to set up a picket in the area but no action was taken and millions of rupees have been robbed for the second time.

They said that shopkeepers were deprived of cash and trading items worth millions of rupees and CCTV videos of the robbery were also available but police have not conducted any investigation. They complained that traders of Karachi pay hefty taxes but the administration does not support and protect them.