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Shoot-at-sight order issued: Dr Zulfiqar Mirza
In most arson and firing incidents motorcyclists with pillion-riders were involved, said Dr Zulfiqar Mirza while explaining the background of extending the ban on pillion-riding in Karachi and Hyderabad for another month. - APP photo Karachi tense as citizens brace for strike KARACHI: Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza has said that the law-enforcement agencies have been authorised to shoot at sight miscreants found indulging in arson, damaging private or public property or endangering the lives of citizens. He said no one could be allowed to take the law into his own hands and the law would take its course without taking into consideration the affiliation of the people arrested while disturbing the peace in the province, including Karachi. The home minister, who was present with the chief minister during his press conference on Sunday afternoon at the Chief Minister’s House, in reply to a question said that neither the Sindh government nor the federal government was so weak that a few ‘miscreants’ could hijack their policy. ‘Those who want to disturb the peace in the city and take the law into their own hands must let their family members know before taking to the streets that their bodies might return home,’ he warned, pointing out that instructions had already been given to the police and Rangers that miscreants should be dealt with sternly, including opening fire on them. Later, talking to a group of media-men, he said that so far, 8,500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) had arrived in the province through Kashmore, whose borders meet with D.I. Khan’s, while about 200 had entered from the Ghotki route bordering Punjab. In reply to a question, he said he was keeping a tab on the list of those arrested for disturbing the peace, indulging in arson and damaging private and public property in connection with Saturday’s strike, and those who were being arrested while taking the law into their own hands with regard to Monday’s strike call. He said that if any police official released any suspect under influence or political pressure, the minister would personally see to it that the official was put behind bars. Answering another question, he explained the background of extending the ban on pillion-riding in Karachi and Hyderabad for another month, saying that in most arson and firing incidents motorcyclists with pillion-riders were involved. DAWN:Monday, 25 May, 2009 |
