President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday called for strictly maintaining law and order in Karachi and elimination of extortion at all costs and those involved in heinous crimes be brought to book without any fear or favour.
He said that the existing cyber laws also needed to be re-visited to make them responsive to the reality of the use of electronic communication in the crimes. The president said this during a special meeting on law and order situation in Karachi here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Thursday.
Those who were present during the meeting included among others Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Governor Sindh Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Provincial Home Minister Manzoor Wasan, Provincial Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Interior Secretary K M Siddiq Akbar, Chief Secretary Sindh Raja Muhammad Abbas, DG Rangers Major General Rizwan Akhter and other senior officers concerned besides M Salman Faruqui, Secretary General to the President and Spokesperson to the President Senator Farhatullah Babar.
Briefing newmen, the Spokesperson to the President Senator Farhatullah Babar said that during the meeting the president was informed about the law and order situation and the measures that had been taken so far to deal with the complaints of extortion, target killings and other crimes.
It was informed that in order to deal with the complaints of Bhatta/extortion, a special cell had been established in CIA branch of police and complaints centres had been established in the offices of Home Minister, FPCCI, KCCI, Additional IG Police Karachi range and office of DIGPs of zones. The president directed that the complaint cells be made effective and victims be provided all possible relief.
He said that the safety and security of the victims and witnesses of all such cases must also be ensured and the victims be encouraged to report cases of extortion. The president emphasised upon the need to strengthen the police force, investigation, information gathering system and the prosecution.
He advised the federal government to provide all possible support to the provincial government in dealing with law and order situation and complaints of extortions. Later, the president also chaired two separate meetings, one on the developmental projects especially the construction of Kachhi canals and small/medium dams and the other on Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway -the M-9 project- and construction of roads in Sindh.
Those who were present during these meetings included among others Federal Minister for Communications Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan, Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Federal Minister for Water & Power Syed Naveed Qamar, Finance Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, Irrigation Minister Jam Saifullah and the federal and provincial secretaries concerned along with other senior officials.
Briefing the meeting on dams, Chairman Wapda Shakeel Durrani informed that Wapda had undertaken construction of small/medium dams. He said that the tenders for Phase-1 projects were invited on International Competitive Bidding (ICB) basis and the contracts for the construction of Darawat, Nai Gaj and Naulong Dams were awarded. He informed the meeting that the construction of Darawat Dam was at full swing and the project would substantially be completed by June 2013.
On Naulong in Jhal Magsi and Nai Gaj in Dadu, the chairman Wapda informed the meeting that contractors had been appointed and the work would start soon. The funding of these three dams namely Darawat, Naulong and Nai Gaj, was linked with Exim Bank of China, he added.
The president directed the secretary EAD to sort out with the Exim Bank the procedural formalities and the flow of funds for these dams so that the work was not hampered. The meeting was also briefed about the progress and current status of Winder and Ghabir dams.
During the third meeting, the progress on conversion of 4-lane Karachi-Hyderabad Super Highway into a 6-lane Motorway, the M-9 Project, and other roads in Sindh was reviewed. It was informed that for M-9 project, the process of signing concession agreement was completed during this January and mutation/transfer of land in favour of NHA was also completed.
The meeting was also briefed about the progress on the construction of roads in Sindh that were damaged due to the floods. The president said that the budgetary and financial constraints warrant exploration of all possibilities of Public-Private Partnership in the infrastructural projects.
He said that the government was encouraging direct private investment in the infrastructure development projects. He expressed the hope that with the success of M-9 project on BOT basis, the NHA would be able to deliver other projects on BOT/Public Private Partnership basis to reduce the burden on PSDP resources which could then be diverted for uplift of remote areas hitherto neglected.
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