LAHORE, Pakistan: Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhera on Tuesday said there were none and had never been any ‘No-Go-Areas’ in the province.
In an interview with the state run news agency APP in Lahore at the Central Police Office (CPO), he said the presence of ‘Chotu-Gang’ was 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.
To a question, the Punjab Police Chief said there were no law and order issues in the province, adding that no cases of sectarianism were reported, a situation which was exploited by the anti-state elements in the past. He said extremism had been curbed by the police.
Vis-a-vis religious seminaries, Sukhera 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 in case of information was received about some unregistered seminary.
Regarding 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.
About the children kidnappings, the Police Chief urged the need for public awareness regarding the children kidnapping, stressing there were no gang reported to be involved in recent kidnapping of children cases in the province.
He said only four cases of kidnapping for ransom were registered during the past year and all four 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 in haste. He said instructions had been issued to the officers to institute the FIRs immediately after the complaint was launched on kidnapping.
Regarding the non-registration of FIRs, the IGP Punjab said no case had been reported in which FIR was not registered by the police.
To another query, the IGP said 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.
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.