KARACHI, Oct 3: The Sindh police will hire 2,000 former army men in an `urgent move` to strengthen the workforce of the lawenforcement agency amid the ongoing operation, the city police chief said on Thursday.

`The move is part of the plan to increase the number of policemen in Karachi, which is much below the required level of personnel, additional IG Shahid Hayat Khan told industrialists and businessmen while meeting members of the SITE Association of Industry in its office.

`The idea is to recruit exservicemen because they are already trained and very much aware of the basics of the law-enforcement. So they can join the force immediately after recruitment, which would definitely help overcome the strength issue to a large extent.

The city police chief ruled out allegations by `certain quarters` about bias of the police and other law-enforcement agencies while carrying out the Karachi operation, saying the force had struck every district brushing off consideration of places being political strongholds, or fallouts of the actions.

`I took charge of the office after being assured of liberty of action,`hesaid.`Iamunder no one`s pressure, neither am I answerable to any political party for my actions and line of action. I agreed to become the police chief of the city taking the job as a challenge and I would continue doing my job with the same spirit.

The city police authorities even spotted more than 100 policemen involved in criminal activities one way or another. He said all those more than 100 policemen were either suspended or terminated and were facing investigation. `When we are not even sparing our own force, how one can expect of us to spare criminals. Tracing criminals I have accessed the inaccessible areas. I moved into Keamri and Malir. From Orangi to Lyari and to catch them I would go everywhere whether it`s Azizabad or Sohrab Goth,` added the AIG.

He referred to his `claim` that he was an honest man and said under the renewed policy the authorities had set zero tolerance for corruption in the force.

`For that we have posted honest and reputed honest officers, who are known for their integrity, on all key posts. I am an honest man and I claim to be so. So you would find my team members honest and hard working,` he said.