KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday directed Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to launch a “large-scale operation” against criminals in Karachi and Sindh, amid a surge in street crimes and incidences of kidnapping in Pakistan’s southern province. 

The president issued these directions while he chaired a meeting on the deteriorating law-and-order situation in Sindh. The meeting was also attended by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Minister of Science and Technology Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui. Provincial ministers Sharjeel Inam Memon, Nasir Shah and Ziaul Hasan Linjar, Inspector General Police Sindh Ghulam Nabi Memon and others also participated in the huddle. 

Karachi, a metropolis of 20 million that hosts the stock exchange and central bank, has for decades been beset by armed violence. While an armed campaign by the military, with help from police, paramilitary Rangers and intelligence agencies, against armed gangs and suspected militants in the city brought down murder rates after 2013, street crimes have been on the rise again since last year, with shooting deaths in muggings and robberies once again becoming a daily headline. 

Street crimes saw an increase during the first four months of 2024, particularly during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, driving fear into the hearts of the city’s citizens. 

“President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari presiding over a special law & order meeting at CM House directed the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to launch a large-scale operation against street criminals in Karachi,” the Chief Minister’s House said. 

It added that the president ordered strict action be taken against dacoits in Sindh and drug traffickers throughout the province in close coordination with other provinces.

Zardari urged the chief minister to provide a posting tenure to police officers, monitor their performance, and remove them when they fail to deliver, the statement added. The president asked Shah to ensure foreign nationals living and working in Sindh were guaranteed security.

“He emphasized the need to particularly look after the Chinese nationals working on CPEC-related projects,” the CM House said. 

Memon briefed the president that in total 5,357 crimes were reported in Sindh during the first four months of the year, corresponding with 5,259 incidents in the corresponding period last year.

Zardari was told that in January, 252.32 street crime cases were reported in Karachi while in February the number decreased to 251.96. 

“The trend of street crime decreased in March and April when 243.35 and 166.2 cases were reported respectively,” the statement said.

The Sindh IG disclosed that 49 people were killed in 48 street crimes in Karachi this year, adding that in these cases 43 accused have been arrested while 13 were killed in encounters. 

President Zardari directed the chief minister to control street crimes in the province by launching a result-oriented special operation. 

“The operation must deliver results so that confidence of the citizens could be developed,” Zardari was quoted as saying by the CM House. 

President Zardari lamented that stolen/snatched vehicles and mobile phones were sold in the city’s market in parts, adding that this was known to police and others. 

“Why the police were not taking operations against the markets and people involved in the business of stolen/snatched vehicles and mobile sets,” he asked. 

The president directed Shah to ensure the Karachi Safe City Project, an initiative to install surveillance cameras in key parts of the city to monitor crime, was completed on a “war footing.”

TORONTO: Barrick Gold is not interested in bidding for Anglo American, which last week received a $39 billion takeover offer from BHP, and is building its own copper portfolio, the Canadian miner’s CEO Mark Bristow said on Wednesday.

If BHP’s proposed acquisition of Anglo is successful, it would create one of the world’s biggest copper miners.

Analysts and investors expect rival bids to emerge after BHP’s offer was rejected last week by Anglo, which said it was opportunistic, significantly undervaluing the company and its future prospects.

“We are not interested in bidding for Anglo American, as we are building (copper assets) of our own,” Bristow told Reuters.

Bristow is betting on developing the Reko Diq copper project in Pakistan in which it holds a 50 percent stake, the first phase of which is expected to cost $5.5 billion.

Barrick is in talks with the International Finance Corporation and other agencies to raise at least $2 billion for the first phase of the project, Bristow added.

Reko Diq, one of the biggest yet-to-be-developed copper mines in the world, is also 50 percent owned by the government of Pakistan. Saudi Arabia is in talks to buy part of the stake from the Pakistan government.

In Mali, where Barrick has a gold mine, the military-led government was last year in talks with miners over a change to its mining law that could see it boost state and private Malian interests in new projects to 35 percent from up to 20 percent previously.

However, Bristow said that the company has received written assurances from the junta that there was no threat of its assets being nationalized.