Balochistan Home Department has lodged protest with the federal government over the continued injustices of Pakistan Coast Guards in the coastal areas of the province and its day-to-day raids on customs-paid items imported from Iran, sources told Business Recorder here on Friday. In an official letter to the Interior Ministry, Balochistan Home Secretary Haider Ali Sheikh expressed dismay over the excesses of Pakistan Coast Guards in Gwadar district during the last few months.
The Secretary also wrote a letter to Central Board of Revenue (CBR) Chairman Abdullah Yousaf to protest against the apathy of the agencies, sources said.
In his letter to Interior Ministry and CBR the home secretary apprised them of the incident where two JCOs along with 15 jawans, of Coast Guards, raided Mujahid Hotel in main Gwadar Bazaar in search of non-customs paid items.
They also raided the office of Javed Transport Company, situated in the centre of Gwadar Bazaar to find goods of such kind, without prior approval of the home department and concerned District Police Officer (DPO), the letter added. After thorough search, the Coast Guards officials found nothing illegal from the premises of these two buildings, it said.
An official confided to this correspondent that finally the JCOs ordered their jawans to confiscate customs paid goods imported from neighbouring Iran that include blankets, shoes, sleepers, edibles, crockery and other imported brand goods from the trucks of Javed Transport Company. Coast Guards also took in custody owner of a transport company who was identified as Manzoor Baloch s/o Nasrullah during the raid. The raid was conducted early last month.
Later, he was released on the intervention of DPO Gwadar, sources said. Manzoor Baloch has been working as customs clearing agent in the area for the last few years. The Home secretary in the letter narrated another case of Coast Guards' about the raid in Gwadar bazaar on March 23, 2005.
The secretary said that Pakistan Coast Guards, Frontier Corps (FC) or any other law enforcement agency falling under the jurisdiction of Federal Government can not raid or conduct operation against the law violators without prior permission of provincial home department, concerned DPO or District Co-ordination Officer (DCO).
Haider Ali Sheikh said Coast Guards repeated raids on villages of the coastal areas is clear violation of the Constitution and intervention in the provincial autonomy. The home department has demanded of the federal government to take necessary disciplinary action against the officials involved in such operations.
He also requested the Interior Secretary and Chairman CBR to define anti-smuggling powers of the guards. Sources said that Pakistan Coast Guards could raid within 20 miles of any coastal areas to recover non-custom paid goods or apprehend smugglers with the prior approval of district administration. The CBR has empowered the coast guards to conduct anti-smuggling operations under the Customs Act, 1969. A number of agencies including rangers are empowered to operate as anti-smuggling agencies, but the overall ratio of seizure is much less by these agencies as compared to CBR.