KARACHI: Claiming elimination of 368 ‘terrorists’ over the past one year, a report compiled by the Sindh home ministry shows that a significant number of those killed in encounters with law enforcement agencies were ‘religious’ or ‘sectarian’ militants, Dawn learnt on Tuesday.
The portion of the report is dedicated to the action against armed militias, including the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and its affiliates and sleeper cells, al-Qaeda, Baloch Liberation Army, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Sipah-i-Mohammad Pakistan, Lyari gangs, Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz, Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, Jundullah (Haji Khalil group), the Punjabi Taliban and Daish.
More than 21,000 alleged members of such organisations have been arrested in a series of combing operations and encounters, says the report.
It says the law enforcement agencies killed 220 ‘religious terrorists’ [al-Qaeda, TTP, Daish, etc,], and 77 ‘sectarian terrorists’ [LeJ, SSP, SMP, etc,] in Karachi alone. In the same period, it adds, 534 suspected dacoits or suspected robbers have also been killed.
A total of 12,450 suspects have been arrested in the city, of which 171 are ‘militants’ allegedly belonging to al-Qaeda, the TTP and other religious extremist organisations, 216 affiliated with sectarian outfits and 12,063 are ‘robbers or dacoits’.
The counter-terrorism department (CTD), which is mandated to work across the province, killed 62 ‘religious extremists’, eight ‘sectarian militants’ and 74 ‘robbers’. It arrested 82 ‘militants’ of al-Qaeda, the TTP, etc, 30 allegedly belonging to the LeJ, SSP, SMP, etc, and 279 ‘robbers’.
The CTD’s most activities have been reported from the provincial capital.
No affiliate belonging to the religious extremist organisations was killed in the rest of five regions of Sindh. However, 12 of them have been arrested in Hyderabad and eight in Sukkur.
A single ‘sectarian militant’ was killed in encounter in Larkana, the political headquarters of the ruling PPP’s Bhuttos while 20 others have been arrested from there.
One ‘sectarian militant’ has been arrested in the Sukkur division.
The law enforcement agencies in Hyderabad killed 46 ‘robbers’ and arrested 4,589; nine ‘robbers’ were killed and 1,308 were arrested in Mirpurkhas division; Benazirabad law enforcers killed 20 ‘robbers’ and arrested 338 others; in Sukkur division, 44 ‘robbers’ were killed and 653 have been arrested; while 39 ‘robbers or dacoits’ were killed and 1,264 have been arrested in Larkana division.
The report shows a total of 282 ‘religious terrorists’ were killed and 273 have been arrested across Sindh. The number of ‘sectarian militants’ who were killed by the LEAs is 86 while 267 have been arrested.
A total of 766 ‘dacoits or robbers’ were killed and 20,494 have been arrested from across the province.
The report shows that a total of 3,069 combing operations were initiated against religious extremists during the same period and 3,913 cases were registered against them.
Most [1,989] combing operations were initiated in Karachi where 2,744 cases were registered against the suspects. Similarly, 73 operations were initiated in Hyderabad division and 43 cases were registered against the accused. Such figures from other divisions are: Benazirabad [72 operations, 247 cases], Sukkur [325 operations, 312 cases], and Larkana [610 operations and 567 cases]. No combing operation was reported from Mirpurkhas division.
Status of accused
Giving status of such arrests, the report says that there are 2,944 accused in Karachi, 2,530 of them are in jail and 407 are on bail. Seven of them have been acquitted. In Hyderabad, 106 out of total 129 suspects are in jail; 10 of them are on bail and 13 have been acquitted.
Some 235 out of 347 suspects arrested in Benazirabad are on bail, 54 are in jail, while 56 have been acquitted and two released by the police.
The situation in Sukkur presents interesting figures where police arrested 292 such suspects and released 253 of them because no evidences were found against them. Some 43 of them are in jail and the remaining five are acquitted.
In Larkana, 801 suspects were nabbed, six of whom are still in police custody, 460 are in jail, 237 have got bail, while 98 of them have been acquitted.
A total of 4,513 suspects have been arrested in Sindh of which six are in police custody, 255 released by the police, 3,193 are in jail, 889 are on bail and 179 have been acquitted.
BLA, sub-nationalists
The report says 75 cases are registered against the banned Baloch Liberation Army and certain ‘sub-nationalist’ groups and 176 suspects are arrested from across the province.
Some 55 such cases are registered in Karachi and 55 suspects arrested. Five cases are registered in Hyderabad with seven arrests; while figures from three divisions are as follows: Benazirabad [three cases, 71 arrests], Sukkur [one case, one arrest], and Larkana [16 cases, 42 arrests]. www.dawn.com/news/1302192/368-terrorists-eliminated-in-a-year-in-sindh
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