Karachi: Provincial police chief Ghulam Haider Jamali said on Saturday that 250 policemen have been killed since last September when the ongoing Karachi operation against criminals began.
Talking on the sidelines of a meeting between Karachi businessmen and industrialists, Jamali, who is the inspector general of Police in the Sindh province, said that the police face a shortage of technical and financial resources. He said they need bullet proof vehicles and other equipment to fight against crime and militancy.
Karachi police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo, who was accompanying Jamali, added that the police had just three bullet proof vehicles, all of which were donated to the department.
The Inspector General warned that a crackdown would be carried out to recover illegal weapons, which was one of the prime causes of criminal activities in this sprawling city.
He further said there were a large number of militants and extremists in the city, which has been facing the brunt of their activities for a long time.
Jamali said the terrorists had weapons that were more advanced compared to those the police had. Despite this lack of sophisticated weaponry, the police have been fighting day and night against militancy, he said.
Jamali also urged the withdrawal of prepaid mobile phone connections and asked businessmen to stop using such Sim cards, which are largely used by criminals.
His suggestion came in the backdrop of unabated kidnappings for ransom, which saw the criminals using prepaid Sim cards that could be easily discarded, allowing them to remain untraceable.
He added that extortionists were also using prepaid connections. Jamali said that it would be a revenue loss for mobile phone companies but on the other hand it would greatly help curbing the kidnappings and extortion cases.
