KARACHI: Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan chaired a high-level meeting at the Rangers Headquarters on Monday to review the overall law and order situation in the city and the rest of Sindh province.

The interior minister was briefed about the progress in the investigation of the Safoora incident and other high-profile target killings in the city.

Nisar appreciated the Rangers’ role in curbing target killings and said that terrorists involved in recent activities will be brought to justice as the investigations are based on concrete leads, a Rangers spokesperson said. The interior minister also paid a visit to Yadgar-e-Shuhada and offered fateha.

Nisar arrived in Karachi on a one-day visit to get a detailed briefing regarding Wednesday’s terrorist attack on a bus carrying members of the Ismaili community near Safoora Goth in which 45 people were killed and eight others were injured.

The interior minister’s absence at an apex committee meeting last week was conspicuous, as the high-level huddle was chaired by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Raheel Sharif and attended by high-level civil and military officials including army chief General Raheel Sharif, ISI Director General (DG) Rizwan Akhtar, Corps Commander Karachi Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar, Rangers DG Major General Bilal Akbar, Federal Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, federal interior secretary, federal chief secretary, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad and MQM leader Farooq Sattar.

During the meeting it was decided that the ongoing operation against criminal elements in the city will be sped up, and will be extended to target not only criminal organisations but also their workers and abettors.

The meeting was attended by Director General (DG) Rangers Major General Bilal Akbar, Chief Secretary Sindh, Home Secretary, Sindh Police Inspector General (IG) Ghulam Haider Jamali, Additional Inspector General (IG) Sindh Police Ghulam Qadir Thebo, and other senior officials.

Nisar will also met Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad at the Chief Minister House and Governor House respectively. Later, a press talk will be held at the Governor House at around 4pm.

The minister will hold a meeting with DG Rangers Major General Bilal Akbar separately, and will lay a floral wreath on the Yadgaar-i-Shuhada at Rangers Headquarters.

Nisar will also meet the leader of Ismaili community Sultan Ali Allana during his visit.

At least 43 people, including 17 women, were massacred near Safoora Goth when gunmen boarded the bus they were travelling in and shot them at a point-blank range. Six other women and two men were wounded in the brazen assault.

The gory incident sent ripples in the power corridors of Islamabad and Rawalpindi from where the prime minister and the army chief rushed to Karachi, sat together with representatives of the intelligence and law enforcement agencies and decided to accelerate the ‘targeted operation’.

Two of the wounded persons died from the bullet wounds, said on Thursday an official of the Sachal police station within whose jurisdiction the carnage was carried out. The two deaths took the toll to 45. =DNA

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