No let up in NAP enforcement: IGP Sukhera

No let up in NAP enforcement: IGP Sukhera

LAHORE, Aug 21 (APP): Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab, Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhera said on Sunday that Punjab police had implemented the National Action Plan (NAP) in its true spirit, and successful operations had been carried out against banned outfits, their facilitators and financiers to curb the terrorism from every nook and corner of the province.

In an exclusive interview with the APP here at the Central Police Office (CPO), he said the police had annihilated terrorists, their facilitators, financiers and sympathizers from the province in toto, adding that action was initiated against all those suspected of terrorism and religious hatred in the province.

About the funding to the banned religious outfits, he said the police have worked on the issue under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and all such cases have been taken care of, adding that there are no outfits involved in terrorism and extremism today. “If a new outfit is formed in the province, the police and the intelligence agencies monitor such outfits and take immediate action”, he remarked.

About police operations, he said that police had registered cases against the banned terrorist outfits in the province including those banned outfits which were registered under new names.

Responding to question on NAP, Sukhera said Punjab Police have worked on all 20 points of the NAP as envisaged by the federal government, adding that 150 hard-core terrorists have been killed during the successful operations by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) while 800 cases have been registered against the terrorists.

In response to a query, the police chief said that 12,886 anti-state elements were arrested under 58,904 combing operations during the past 2 years, adding the CTD had conducted intelligence of all terrorists and dealt with all aspects of terrorism in the province since its inception in 2010 under the vision of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.

Giving out details of the police operations, the IGP said combing operations including 14606 in Lahore, 4030 in Sheikhpura, 5859 in Gujranwala, 4681 in Rawalpindi, 2288 in Sargodha, 4915 in Faisalabad, 6095 in Multan, 5121 in Sahiwal, 2687 in Dera Ghazi Khan and 8682 in Bahawalpur were conducted and 12886 persons were apprehended.

He said 8369 persons were challaned and the courts sentenced 1657 persons while 6566 cases were pending in the courts.

To a question, Sukhera said extremism had been controlled in the province and, today, you see no confrontation on the sectarian front as sectarianism had been curbed in the province by the police while anti-state elements had exploited the situation in the past.

Vis-a-vis the religious seminaries, he said there were no unregistered religious seminaries in the province, adding that all were registered under the law. He said the police initiates prompt action, if information was received about any unregistered seminary.

About the law and order, the IGP said there were none and there had never been any ‘No-Go-Areas’ in the province, adding that the presence of a Chhotu-Gang is an exception which remained out of reach due to its hide-out in the middle of a river sanctuary and lack of resources with the local police.

When asked about the Afghan refugees, he said there was no reported presence of the illegal Afghans in the province, adding that there was only one registered Afghan refugee camp in Mianwali.

Regarding the non-registration of FIRs, The IGP Punjab said no case had been reported in which FIR was not registered by the police.

About the children kidnappings, the Police Chief urged the
need for public awareness regarding the children kidnapping,
stressing there were no such gangs involved in kidnapping of
children in the province.

He said only 4 cases of kidnapping for ransom were registered during the past year and all 4 kidnapped children were recovered safe and sound by the police.

He urged the media to play its positive role in awareness on the issue as most of the children left homes due to reasons other than the kidnapping while public took to the roads.

He said instructions had been issued to the officers to institute the FIRs immediately after the complaint was launched on kidnapping.

APP Services