The outgoing caretaker Sindh chief minister, Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar, has said that during his tenure, street crime in Karachi decreased by 4.19%. He also reported that operations in the riverine area of the province had been successful in reducing the number of kidnappings for ransom cases from 21 to 10 per month.
In a statement issued by the CM House on Sunday, the CM said that he took over as the interim provincial chief executive in the middle of August 2023 and during his over six-month tenure, he worked hard and made some tangible improvements.
Justice (retd) Baqar said that Revamping 15 Madadgar police helpline service, initiating the Sindh Safe City Project after ensuring that its cost was substantially rationalised and addressing issues afflicting police investigations had all contributed to the improvement in the law and order situation. Nonetheless, he remarked, the government machinery was conscious of the fact that crime would continue to rear its head if policing was not supplemented by better governance and egalitarian policies.
While acting against major suppliers of narcotics, the caretaker CM said he contemporaneously increased funding to rehabilitate those who struggled with narcotics addiction. He also expressed grief over the impact of floods on the educational landscape of the province. He said his government strived to secure $275 million for the funding of 1,600 schools damaged by the floods. Observing that teacher absenteeism was prevalent throughout schools in Sindh, he said the government initiated installation of biometric machines for attendance in public schools. Science and computer labs at schools were also reactivated, he added.
