Sindh increases security budget to support Karachi operation

KARACHI -- The Sindh government has increased the budget for 2016-2017 to support security operations in Karachi and to further improve the security situation in the province, officials and experts said.

The province boosted its security budget from Rs. 60 billion (US $600m) to Rs. 80 billion (US $800m) to enable the hiring of 20,000 more police officers and to purchase more weapons, vehicles and other equipment for police, provincial Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said at a June 12 news conference.

The overall budget for the province is more than Rs. 869 billion (US $8 billion), a 15% increase from the last fiscal year, he said.

Maintaining law and order is a priority for the government, which prompted the boost in security spending, Shah said.

Creating sustainable security

Karachi has seen great improvements in security since the Rangers began a city-wide crackdown on crime and terrorism in September 2013, as reported by numerous media. The operation continues to this day.

“The on-going operation has yielded very positive results," Sharfuddin Memon, a former security advisor to the Sindh chief minister, told Central Asia Online. "All efforts should be undertaken to make this operation sustainable."

"We've seen a significant reduction in targeted killings, kidnapping for ransom, extortion of money, land grabbing, major terrorism incidents, etc.," he said. "This is the outcome of a 33-month long joint campaign by the Karachi Police and Rangers."

"Hardened criminals and militants are still being arrested," Memon said. "Authorities are recovering weapons, which indicate the presence of criminals and terrorists in other areas."

Memon had further suggestions for protecting the peace in Karachi, such as introducing a public-private partnership in the police, establishing permanent check-posts in dangerous areas and hiring more police officers on merit rather than through favouritism.

The operation already has eliminated no-go areas in Karachi, and a long-term plan is essential to sustain these gains, he said.

Provincial authorities must strengthen the Sindh Police Counter Terrorism Department by giving its personnel adequate training, weapons, vehicles and funding, Memon said.

Modernising the police force

Police officers need better protection, Mubasher Mir, the Urdu-language newspaper Daily Pakistan's resident editor in Karachi, told Central Asia Online.

In Karachi, terrorists assassinate police officers who lack bulletproof vests and modern weapons, he added.

They need such equipment to "improve law and order in Karachi", he said.

Mir also suggested more intelligence gathering and security camera surveillance in accordance with the counter-terrorism National Action Plan, which took effect in December 2014.

Mir urged the Sindh government to set fixed terms in office for high police officials like the provincial inspector general of police and deputy inspectors general.

Presently, the Sindh government transfers senior police officers after only a few months or a year of service, hindering discipline and the Sindh Police's progress against crime and terrorism.

"How can police officers make long-term plans when they don't know how long they'll be around?" he asked rhetorically.

Other ways to improve security would be regular monitoring of seminaries, expansion of the intelligence network and better investigations and police training, Mir said.

Improving education

The government is taking a longer-term approach to reducing terrorism as well -- by boosting education spending.

The hope is to have a literate citizenry that rejects extremist propaganda.

The provincial government's decision to raise annual education spending to Rs. 160 billion (US $1.6 billion) in 2016-2017 -- up from Rs. 144 billion (US $1.4 billion) "will enhance literacy in the province", Rozina Jalal, chairperson of the Karachi-based Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry's committee on peace and religious harmony, told Central Asia Online.

To spread enlightenment and tolerance, the government should focus its educational efforts on long-under-served rural areas in Sindh, she said.

It also should monitor the performance of teachers and attendance by teachers and schoolchildren province-wide, she added.