Zardari vows to fight terrorists till the last breath

KARACHI: Former president and PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has said that no one can impose his ideas on others, adding that they will fight terrorists till the last breath.
Addressing a ceremony organised by the Sindh Police to give compensation cheques to 61 families of policemen who lost their lives on duty here on Wednesday, Zardari directed the Sindh government to raise the compensation amount from Rs2 million to Rs10 million for police personnel who embraced martyrdom while performing their duties, and impart education to their children free of cost for which he offered the services of SZABIST.
He said that the life of a person is precious and it cannot be returned through cash. But it becomes a big loss for the family to lose their bread earner. “I, therefore, urge upon the Government of Sindh to appoint a women police officer of SSP rank to run the Police Welfare Organisation and make an agreement with the SZABIST to provide free standard education to the children of martyred police personnel.”
He emphasised the need of giving full ownership to police officials. He directed the Sindh government to make the required laws to introduce a insurance policy for all govt employees and under the same policy government properties may be insured. He said that in addition to compensation his government in Sindh would fulfil all other necessities, including providing jobs, residential plots etc to the victim families of police martyrs.
He said the major difficulty in disposing of the compensation cases was to define the heirs of the martyred. He directed the Sindh chief secretary to evolve an efficient mechanism by which all the heirs of govt employees be registered in advance.
Zardari said that he knows what martyrdom was, as he himself belonged to the family of martyrs. He said that Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto embraced martyrdom and we are the followers of their mission. He said that those who don’t feel the pain of martyrs, cannot be considered as followers of Bhuttoism.
The PPP co-chairman distributed 61 compensation cheques for Rs2 million each among the heirs of martyred police personnel. He also presented keys of residential flats to the in-service police officials during the ceremony. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, while addressing on the occasion, said that it was the PPP government which has given ownership to the policemen. “Before the tenure of PPP government, the Sindh Police was working in very weaker position with depressed atmosphere. Neither were they equipped with latest equipments nor received latest training. As a result, law and order situation deteriorated day by day.
“When the PPP came to power it raised the moral of the Sindh Police and enhanced their budget from Rs10 billion to Rs60 billion on the directives of PPP chief Asif Ali Zardari,” he added, and said that his government also raised the compensation amount for the heirs of martyrs police personnel from Rs2 lac to Rs5 lac in 2008, and again it was raised from Rs5 lac to Rs20lac, besides in some cases of extraordinary bravery the Sindh government gave away compensation up to Rs20 million as directed by Asif Zardari.
He said that at present the provincial government was providing international standard training to the Sindh Police officials and it had created many other special wings for fighting terrorism effectively, the Rapid Response Force was worth mentioning here.
The chief minister further said that due to these efforts and encouragement, the Sindh Police were fighting against terrorism effectively and as such 60 percent to 65 percent of heinous crimes had declined in the Karachi city while there was a respite in other crimes as well. Lauding the performance of Sindh Police, the chief minister said that peaceful observance of Muharram-ul-Haram and Eid celebrations since the last three years was evident that the Sindh Police in collaboration of Rangers were working well. He said that the Sindh government has planned to strengthen the Sindh Police to combat terrorism with success.
Earlier, the Inspector General of Sindh Police Ghulam Hyder Jamali, while briefing the ceremony, said that last year, the Sindh Police conducted more than 4,000 operations, arrested 13,000 culprits and killed 799 criminals in different encounters. He added that among the killed criminals, 164 were terrorists, 42 kidnappers and 592 dacoits.
Giving details of the policemen who embraced martyrdom, the IGP said during these encounters, 181 police personnel lost their lives. He said due to efforts and interest of the PPP government, the morale of police were high. It was being facilitated with the latest equipment, training and turned into a strong force of the country. He praised the government measures for raising the compensation amount from Rs5 lac to Rs20 lac and making their salaries equivalent to that of the Punjab Police.
PPP Senior Vice Chairman Makhdoom Amin Faheem, Senator Rehman Malik, Speaker Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durani, all the members of the Sindh cabinet, MNAs, MPAs and senior officers of the government attended the ceremony.