Lahore police claim disposal of 1 million cases in three years

LAHORE: Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Bilal Siddique Kamyana has said the city has seen unprecedented progress in controlling crime over the past two years, claiming that police disposed of 1 million cases over the last three years.

Addressing the media alongside DIG Investigation Zeeshan Raza and DIG Operations Faisal Kamran, Kamyana said the police and the press had a close relationship, stressing that news should not be suppressed but facts should be verified before publication.

He said police performance was assessed on the basis of serious crimes, including murder, motorcycle snatching and robbery. Crimes against women and children, he added, were a red line for the chief minister.

Kamyana said police had arrested more than 6,250 people in anti-drug operations and apprehended 2,410 gangs. Recoveries worth Rs1.51 billion were made over the past year, while more than 14,000 proclaimed offenders in category B and over 6,500 in category A had been arrested.

He said Lahore was a safe city where the authorities sought to ensure that extortionists and criminals could not operate freely.

DIG Operations Faisal Kamran said registering a first information report (FIR) was every citizen’s right and claimed that no case in Lahore was left unregistered by the police.

He said the number of calls received in the city had fallen from more than 9,000 a month at one time to around 800, adding that no organised gangs were operating in Lahore.

Kamran said investigations had led to the cancellation of 91 per cent of cases, adding that the police had a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption and were pursuing internal accountability alongside the Anti-Corruption Establishment.

He said the government wanted Lahore to become a tourism destination and stressed that inaccurate reporting could damage the country’s image internationally.

Kamyana urged journalists to report verified facts, saying that while crime control was the police’s responsibility, reporting should be based on evidence.

Kamran also claimed that Lahore ranked better than 286 cities worldwide in terms of crime.