Karachi: The Sindh government will launch a decisive operation against bandits in its largely lawless riverine belt with the help of Pakistan Army and Rangers.
The decision to this effect was reached after a discussion at a meeting of the provincial cabinet.
The cabinet also decided to involve the police force of neighbouring Punjab and Balochistan provinces in the operation to ensure bandits would not be able to exit Sindh after feeling the crackdown.
The faraway riverine belt of Sindh intersects the two provinces.
Inspector General (IG) of Sindh has been authorised to contact his counterparts in the two provinces to get their full cooperation.
The IG briefed the cabinet that modern weapons and surveillance equipment were required to launch the operation against the gangs of dacoits in the riverine belt in the districts of Ghotki, Shikarpur, and Kashmore in the province.
Earlier, the 28th meeting of the provincial Apex Committee, the top security forum in Sindh whose meetings are also attended by the Karachi Corps Commander, held in January this year also discussed the proposal of procuring military-grade surveillance equipment and weapons for the operation against the dacoits.
Rs2.7 billion to be spent on latest arms and gadgets
The cabinet after further deliberation on the proposal authorised an expenditure of over Rs2.7 billion for procuring the latest gadgets and weapons for launching the operation against the dacoits. The cabinet also directed the provincial government’s Home Department to approach the Interior Ministry for obtaining the NoC for the procurement.
It is worth mentioning here that the past operations launched by the police against the heavily armed dacoits had failed. After launching of the operation, the bandits mostly escape to the tribal belt in adjoining Punjab and Balochistan where they have hideouts for taking temporary refuge.
The dacoits are mostly involved in kidnappings for ransom. The police considered the proposal of using drones for surveillance of their hideouts.
In past instances, policemen using armoured personnel carriers in the operation died due to the use of heavy weapons, including rocket launchers by the dacoits.
At least 25 policemen have died while taking part in operations against dacoits in riverine areas of Sindh in the last two years. In 2021, when police launched a deadly operation in the Shikarpur area of Sindh, the dacoits held at least 12 innocent people hostage for ransom. The menace of dacoits in Sindh is decades old and the 1984-1994 was remembered as the “Decade of dacoits” due to the massive crime spree.
According to statistics, over 11,000 people were kidnapped in that decade alone and the dacoits received around Rs3 billion as the total ransom money.
