HYDERABAD: The Sukkur bench of the Sindh High Court on Thursday directed federal secretaries of interior and cabinet division and Attorney General of Pakistan to appear in court on March 2 with a comprehensive report detailing short and long-term policies to crush underworld of dacoits, its supporters, masterminds and ultimate white collar beneficiaries in society and black sheep within police department.

The division bench comprising Justices Salahuddin Panhwar and Abdul Mobeen Lakho passed the order on a petition filed by Sindh HighCourt Bar Association Sukkur through its general secretary Ali Gul Abbasi.

The bench perused a report of home secretary and said the report focused on purchase of sophisticated military grade weapons except for police to combat with dacoits. Federal ministry of interior was required to issue no objection certificate for purchase of military grade weapons and surveillance system to control criminal gangs infesting riverine areas in Kashmore, Shikarpur and Ghotki districts, it said.

It surfaced that the matter was taken up with the ministry and it showed concern that Sindh police were not trained enough to handle and store the sophisticated weapons, saidthe order.

IGP Sindh said: `There are trained personnel in units of Special Security Unit and Rapid Response Force and they will be provided further training by POF once the procurement for weapons has been finalised.

The bench said the SSPs of Ghotki and Sukkur argued that police officers and sepoys were killed by dacoits who were equipped with military grade weapons. Without sophisticated weapons and surveillance equipment, police would not be able to combat the dacoits, it said.

Ghotki SSP informed the court that dacoits compelled hostages to provide them their womenfolk as ransom, subjected hostages to sodomy, torturedthem brutally, recorded rape with families of abductees and flashed it on social media.

The court noted that social media accounts of dacoits were active on which they posted videos to spread terror. The dacoits used accounts to entice people with lucrative offers of cheap sale of vehicles and motorcycles or trapped innocent people with fake calls in female`s voice, it said.

The court noted there was no full-time home minster in Sindh as the chief minister held its portfolio. There was need for a dedicated minister for home department, otherwise, the chief minister would be called to explain reasons behind growing lawlessness, said the court.

The court ordered home sec-retary to constitute joint interrogation teams (JITs) at district levels of Sukkur, Shaheed Benazirabad and Larkana divisions with participation of personnel of law enforcement agencies and directed federal interior secretary to provide assistance, examine issues and submit joint operation plan.

It ordered the IGP to submit mechanism and SOPs for investigation in effective and efficient manner and said in addition to federal secretaries of cabinet and home, Sindh secretary, IGP, DIG Larkana and SSPs concerned would also appear in court on March 2 to submit progress report s, failing which prime minster, CM and federal interior minister would appear in court.