‘Will go after corrupt elements’: CM Punjab Maryam vows, calls child abuse and rape her deepest concern

Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz on Saturday said organised crime, corruption and rising cases of child abuse and rape were among the gravest challenges facing the province, vowing that she would “go after” those responsible regardless of rank, while crediting a newly launched AI-based intelligence hub with helping bring down crime.

Speaking at the launch of the Punjab Safe Cities Authority’s AI hub, Maryam said organised crime had been rampant when she assumed office in 2024. “Murders used to happen here in broad daylight, brazenly, it seemed as if there was no law enforcement mechanism at all. People were completely fearless, and there were situations where five, six, seven murders were happening daily in a single district, in broad daylight, people killing each other while walking on the streets,” she said. She added that vehicle and motorbike snatching had been “extremely prevalent” across all districts, but said the province had since seen a “70 percent reduction in crime.”

Child abuse, rape “cause me the greatest pain”

The chief minister said child abuse and rape remained the issues that troubled her most. “What causes me pain is child abuse and rape. Such sickness, such brutality has crept into our society that just two days ago, there was an attempted assault on a 10-month-old baby girl,” she said, describing how the infant was rushed to hospital bleeding after being attacked while in a cloth sling, allegedly by someone’s domestic employee. “Thank God the child’s life was saved, but she reached the hospital in a very bad condition. When I see such incidents repeatedly, my trust in humanity is shaken. But I am going after these people, and it is not an easy decision.”

Maryam said she faced a choice between self-preservation and accountability to the public. “For me, there are two paths: one is that people say cases will be built against you, that you’ll be held accountable someday, so I could save my own skin. Or, there are the 13-14 crore people of Punjab who look toward me, after Allah, believing that we will provide them protection of life, property, and honour,” she said, adding: “I do face criticism, but I don’t care, because I know what I am doing, and this is my responsibility.”

Crackdown on corruption, no one to be “spared”

Maryam said she had ordered a crackdown on corrupt officials across departments, saying she had given written instructions to all field formations, including police RPOs, DPOs, commissioners and deputy commissioners, to purge corrupt elements from their own ranks. “I will not spare anyone, and whoever is responsible will bear the consequences,” she said, adding that hundreds of arrests had been made in the preceding two days following the launch of a public helpline for reporting bribery and corruption. “Since yesterday and the day before, not dozens but hundreds of arrests have been made.”

She said body cameras had been installed on police personnel, including traffic police, to ensure accountability. “I’ve had these body cameras installed only so that I know what they’re doing during an eight or ten-hour duty, and so that they too know that they are being watched,” she said.

Religious, ethnic tensions “managed” through coordination

The chief minister said religious and sectarian tensions had also posed a serious challenge, alleging that certain political groups had used religion “as cover” to spread hatred and deepen polarisation. She said the province had seen improved coordination during religious occasions such as Muharram and Rabi-ul-Awwal over the past two and a half years, crediting intelligence-based policing for pre-empting potential threats.

Security along provincial borders

Maryam said Punjab faced a greater security threat from neighbouring provinces than from neighbouring countries, citing terrorism spilling into Punjab from tri-border areas. She said the province had invested “billions of rupees” in technology, including bullet-proofed surveillance cameras, thermal imaging and drones, to fortify checkposts, adding that this had significantly reduced casualties in militant attacks. “Previously, terrorist attacks would claim five martyrs, sometimes ten. Now, thank God, attacks still happen, but the loss of life is minimal,” she said.

She also cited the Kacha area, long known as a hub for banditry and kidnapping for ransom, as an example of restored state authority, following a joint operation involving the military, and the Punjab and Sindh governments. “Kacha is now an area free of crime… the writ of the state has been established there,” she said.

Difficult decisions, including encroachment removals

Maryam defended unpopular enforcement measures taken during her tenure, including the removal of encroachments and mandatory helmet laws for motorcyclists, both of which she said were necessary despite public criticism. “No politician takes this step. But I too feel sad when I see a cart vendor being removed, or someone poor whose livelihood is being disturbed,” she said, adding that displaced vendors had been relocated to organised spaces and given free carts.

She closed her address by saying that law and order remained the foundation of public trust in the state. “If there is no law and order, if people don’t have trust in their state, in their government, then that country can never move forward,” she said.