LAHORE: Police Inspector General Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhera said on Sunday that police has arrested 12,886 terrorists in 58,904 combing operations during the past two years.
In an exclusive interview at the Central Police Office, he said the combing operations including 14,606 in Lahore, 4,030 in Sheikhpura, 5,859 in Gujranwala, 4,681 in Rawalpindi, 2,288 in Sargodha, 4,915 in Faisalabad, 6,095 in Multan, 5,121 in Sahiwal, 2,687 in Dera Ghazi Khan and 8,682 in Bahawalpur were conducted and 12,886 persons were apprehended.
To a query, he said that 8,369 persons were fined and the courts sentenced 1,657 persons – while 6,566 cases were pending in the courts. The provincial police chief said the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) had been gathering secret information about terrorists since its formation in 2010.
Sukhera said that 150 hard-core terrorists had been killed due to the successful operations of the CTD, while 800 cases had been registered in this regard. He later said that extremism had been controlled in the province and sectarian violence had been curbed in the province by the police.
“Police have implemented the National Action Plan (NAP) in its true spirit and successful operations carried out against the banned organisations, their facilitators and financiers to eliminate terrorists and their sympathisers from every nook and cranny of the country,” Sukhera said.
About the law and order, he said that there had never been any ‘No-go areas’ in the province, adding that the presence of a ‘Chotu Gang’ was an exception which remained out of reach due to its hideout in the middle of a river sanctuary and lack of resources of the local police.
About children kidnappings, the police chief stressed the need for public awareness regarding reported kidnapping of children. He said that no gangs were involved in kidnapping of children in the province.
He said only four kidnapping for ransom cases have been registered during the past year and all four children were recovered safely by the police. He said all Station House Officers (SHOs) have been directed to immediately register a case after kidnapping complaint is received.
