INDIGENOUS acacia trees, natural Eshponds and crops dot upper Sindh`s riverine area; a picturesque landscape, which is routinely tormented by the smell of gunpowder, sounds of gunshots and sights of conflict.

Thefertilelandistrudgedlessby ploughs and more by armoured car-riers. Currently, the area is bustling with police presence who are up against a well-entrenched, heavily armed and ruthless enemy the dacoits of the katcha area.

Police have launched an operation to clear the area. As per official claims, 30 dacoits have been killed since January. Even if these numbers are to be believed, they have come at a steep cost. Several policemen, including DSP and SHOs, have also been killed by the dacoits, who operate with near impunity in the area.

Sindh has a vast riverine area.

The forest department alone controls 241,198 hectares, or around 600,000 acres, of riverine forests.

Besides forests, there is land owned by the revenue department and private owners. In terms of length, around 64km dyke exists in Kashmore, 40km in Sukkur, 78km in Ghotki and 38km in Shikarpur.The Durrani Mahar police station in Kashmore, Khanpur and Garhi Tegho police posts in Shikarpur and Raunti police station in Ghotl(i are the bandits` hotspots which remain a no-go area for police.

Pickets on the dykes In this rugged terrain, the dichotomy between the police and the dacolts is glaring. While the police force is stretched to limits with limited manpower and paltry resources, dacoits are well entrenched and heavily armed.

For now, it appears that the police`s best strategy is to man the area through posts and disconnect supplies`routes to dacoits.

Pickets are being established on the dykes in Ghotki, Shikarpur, Kashmore-Kandhkot to choke dacoits` supply routes.

Sindh police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon believes the strategy willpay off just lil(e it did in 1997 when he served as Ghotlci SSP. `This mechanism will yield results coupled with consistent monitoring`, IG Memon expressed the hope while talking to Dawn over the phone.

But a former police officer doesn`t agree. For him, dacoits have built trenches. He says the outlaws have a bird`s eye view of policemen`s movement, hardly leaving them with a fighting chance.

`Police can`t chase the dacolts in the jungle,` said Sain Rakhio Mirani, a retired DIG who has served across Sindh.

The conditions in the riverine area have changed exceptionally in two decades, said Mr Mirani, who lives in Kashmore district, near the Durani Mahar police station currently plagued by the dacoit factor.

`Gone are the days when police and dacoits had the same weapons. Police can`t match arms now that dacoits possess as the latter use anti-aircraft guns, roclcet launchers and sophisticated weapons.

Yet, the police have decided to proceed with their plan under which pickets will be set up at a distance of 300 metres from Guddu to Sukkur barrages along the dyke. These pickets will be powered by solar energy with roundthe-clock police presence, said Ghotki SSP Tanvir Tunio, adding that 90pc of the proposed 60 pickets have already been set up in his district alone. He believes this would choke the dacoits` ammunition supply routes.

`Assault teams at selected spots will be available to respond if dacoits storm a picket. The response will be swift within five to 10 minutes, said the SSP.

Punjab urges joint survey The police in Punjab`s Rahim Yar Khan district also expressed willingness to support their counterparts in Ghotki for joint picketing on the dyke since the katcha starts from Punjab`s southern region and extends to Sindh. But they weren`t ready to commit anything before a joint survey to assess the vulnerabilities.

`We told the Ghotki police to go for a joint survey first given the area`s terrain and to see whether it is productive and safety of the force can be ensured or not. Otherwise, it is akin to throwing the force to wolves,` Rahim Yar Khan SSP Rizwan Umar Gondal told Dawn.

The officer believes this is an opportune time to `wipe out the dacoits` as Indus river flows are low these days.

Whether dykes are a strong enough and effi-cient defence against the marauding outlaws has stirred a debate.

A senior official said resource shortage wasn`t the only issue plaguing the force`s operational prowess. They also lack motivation and the cops `would look like sitting ducks` in the pickets.

`Dacoits attack in large numbers [in the night], leaving no chance for police to respond,` he told Dawn.

Police are familiar with this ruthlessness. They were at the receiving end when dacoits decided to avenge the killing of one of their own, Salto Shar.

The bandit kingpin was duped by a policeman who invited him for tea and 1(illed him in a fake en counter in November last year, according to a senior Sindh police force.

The onslaught by the bandits resulted in the martyrdom of five policemen, including a DSP and two SHOs.

The situation is especially challenging in the upper Sindh region around Kashmore district, as per the police`s own admission.

In the face of rampant kidnapping and lawlessness, Kashmore SSP Shabbir Sethar proceeded on a leave under immense pressure from high-ups over the prevailing situation. Local journalists say police have even stopped patrolling the highways.

The nexus But for police, resource constraints and limited manpower are not the only struggles. The caste and tribal fault lines involved in the conflict. According to senior police officials, if a dacoit belongs to their caste, cops have a different approach while dealing with them. There`s also a severe mistrust of the force among the locals who believe that cops work in cahoots with dacoits to deprive them of theirwheat crop and expensive woods.

These claims might have some credence as there is an `unholy trio` of the police, dacolts and tribal chiefs who are all aware of each other`s indispensability.

On their part, police officers posted in the area have befriended the tribal chiefs who hobnob with dacoits to secure plush postings in return for going easy on the outlaws.

Officials believe this connivance has emboldened the dacoits.

A police chief of one of the upper Sindh districts admitted that `friendly policing` used to rule supreme till the recent past. In cases of kidnap-ping, the hostages were recovered through mediation and not police action.

`But now we are in a fighting mood and realise there will be [human lives] losses,` he said.

Tech savvy bandits Dacoits are not only out manoeuvring the police in the field, but they are also leading the PR strategy with their efficient use of social media. To the utter chagrin of police, they post videos boasting their raids and the desertion by the police.

`Dacolts attacked the Messori picket, looted weapons and took a cop hostage, all while malcing videos, which went viral,said Masood Soomro, a local journalist from Kandhkot who regularly reports on the situation.

Outside the world of social media on the battlefield, the realisation among the police is that they don`t stand a chance to win with their current resources.

The Sindh police have decided to procure hi-tech weapons and gadgets, including surveillance systems, thermal imaging devices and sniper rifles, worth several hundred million of rupees. These gadgets, said SSP Tunio, will detect any object that has blood and will put thepolice in a position of advantage.

For Mr Mirani, the army and not the police are the panacea to the dacoits`lawlessness. He said police can set up pickets but these are not the solution. `Army is the only solution. They should dismantle dacoits` safe havens once and for all in the katcha area.

Whether this renewed siege would yield desired results or become an addition to the litany of failed operations is yet to be seen.

But for now, the two sides are entrenched in a drawnout battle and not ready to give up.