Sindh Provincial Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon has claimed the government and law enforcement agencies damaged terrorist networks in Karachi during the ongoing operation.
He said the current rise in attacks by terrorists are attempts to pressure the government and security forces to disrupt an ongoing crackdown on criminals and terrorists. The operation will continue until each terrorist has been taken to task, he said.
The law and order situation in Sindh - particularly in Karachi - has been a matter of grave concern for the government and the Pakistan security establishment. Targeted killing, extortion of money, land grabbing and robberies are matters of daily routine. Just on a single day - January 4th - more than 17 were targeted and killed in various part of the city, while the following day five more people, including two policemen, were shot dead.
A senior police official, Choudhry Aslam, along with three other police officials was killed in a suicide bomb attack. Terrorists are also targeting polio workers administering polio drops to children under five. Since the launch of an ongoing ranger-cum-police operation in September last year, the city has been witnessing daily killings, kidnappings, extortion and bomb blasts in various neighborhoods. The city lost about 3000 people in acts of terrorism during the year 2013.
Truth Tracker tried to contact Sharjeel Memon to confirm the statement, however, the minister did not attend the call and avoided responding to text messages.
A senior PPP Leader, Ajiz Dhamra, commenting on Sherjeel Mamon’s statement, told Truth Tracker that PPP is the only political party that is taking on the terrorists. He also said that due to its strong opposition to militancy, the party has always been targeted and remains the victim of terrorism. “The PPP government is doing its level best to eliminate terrorism using minimum available facilities in the province,” he said. The other political forces should encourage and cooperate with the Sindh government rather than criticizing its policies against terrorists and their networks.
MNA Dr. Arif Alvi told Truth Tracker by phone that the PPP government had failed to restore writ of government in most parts of Sindh. He said many areas in Karachi are still under the influence of terrorists where they are keeping their networks intact.
“Even in the previous regime of PPP in Sindh, people were witnessing death and destruction at the hands of target killers and terrorists,” Alvi said.
He said that on the one hand, Sharjeel Memon claims to be dismantling the terrorists’ networks in the city. However, the terrorists have still managed to inflict heavy damage, killing about 3000 people in 2013 in different acts of terrorism.
Mubashir Farooq, a Karachi-based senior journalist and analyst, told Truth Tracker that terrorists and militants groups affiliated with different political parties have taken metropolitan Karachi hostage. He said that most of the political parties had militant wings in Karachi, including the Pakistan People’s Party of Sharjeel Memon. These militants wings are not a secret to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Farooq said that in its verdict on Karachi’s deteriorating law and order situation, the Supreme Court of Pakistan established that all political parties in the city have militant wings.
“Militants have sanctuaries in the city’s Pashtun areas,” says Farooq. Of the militants wings of various religio-political parties, the religiously motivated militant proved to be the most dangerous one attacking important individuals and facilities of armed forces.
Farooq urged Minister Memon to realize the gravity of the situation instead of shielding the government’s failures through false statements.
Keeping in view the situation in Karachi and the statements of political and independent observers, Truth Tracker rates the statement as false.
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