Sindh’s top cop told a meeting of the Provincial Public Safety & Police Complaints Commission on Saturday that 2,580 law enforcers had been infected with the novel coronavirus and contracted COVID-19.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mushtaq Mahar told the meeting, which was chaired by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at the CM House, that police officials being the front-line workers had been performing their duties selflessly during the pandemic.
Mahar said that 1,604 of the infected law enforcers were still under treatment and 960 had already recovered, while 16 of them had lost their lives fighting against the viral disease.
The IGP said that police officials had been provided with the necessary training so that they could perform their duties safely. The meeting lauded the Sindh police for carrying out their responsibilities for the sake of others in the prevalent circumstances.
Complaints
The secretary of the commission, Saifullah Abro, told the meeting that the public complaints filed against police officials had been disposed of by the relevant committees.
He said that a complaint was filed against a former police officer for exerting pressure to usurp a piece of land adjacent to a water park in Sukkur, adding that an FIR was registered against him after an investigation and the case was now in court.
Street crime
MPA Mohammad Ali Aziz brought up the issue of rising street crime in Karachi. The CM said that the city police chief would be invited to the next meeting to brief the commission’s members on street crime and police measures taken against such activities.
Vehicles
On the subject of providing vehicles to the commission’s members, the chief executive said that the purchase of vehicles had been banned by the Supreme Court. “We will purchase vehicles after the court permits it.”
Child abuse
The commission’s members lauded the Khairpur police for arresting the suspects of the child sexual abuse scandal in the district. The meeting hoped that a proper investigation would be conducted so that the entire gang could be brought to book.
Next meeting
The CM said that the commission’s meeting could not be held due to the present health emergency, but now it would be convened regularly, with the next one to be held in August.
The meeting was also attended by the CM’s adviser Murtaza Wahab and principal secretary Sajid Jamal Abro, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah, Additional CS Home Usman Chachar, Finance Secretary Hassan Naqvi, MPAs Sharjeel Memon, Imdad Pitafi, Hasnain Mirza, Shamim Mumtaz and Dr Sajeela Leghari, and Karamat Ali, Nazim Haji, Barrister Haya Eman, Rubina Brohi, Advocate Jhamat Mal and Qurban Malano.
