CNICs and Passports of Over 50,000 Proclaimed Offenders to be Canceled Soon

In a recent hearing at the Sindh High Court (SHC), the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Riffat Mukhtar Raja shared details of proclaimed offenders (POs) in the province.

According to the official statistics, there are 50,058 POs in Sindh. Larkana district courts are at the top of the list, having declared 23,257 individuals as POs.

Similarly, 6,102 individuals were declared POs by Karachi’s District East courts, 4,252 by District South courts, 1,908 by District West courts, 6,282 by District Hyderabad courts, 536 by District Mirpurkhas courts, 2,126 by District Nawabshah courts, 4,987 by District Sukkur courts, and 608 by the Sindh CTD.

The SHC expressed its displeasure over the large number of POs roaming around freely. It reprimanded the police department over its poor performance.

The court ordered the Home Department to send the details of all the POs to the Ministry of Interior, the National Database Registration Authority, and the State Bank of Pakistan to cancel their passports and national identity cards and block their bank accounts.

The order was issued during a hearing of the matter related to the extradition of a former MQM leader Hammad Siddiqui, in the Baldia factory fire case. The court was informed that multiple political leaders including Muttahida Qaumi Movement founder Altaf Hussain, Adeel, Khalil Ahmed, Rashid Iqbal, and Adnan Chiwara were declared POs by courts and are living in London, Saudia Arabia, Germany, and Dubai.

SHC also asked the IGP to take steps to arrest the POs in the province and also share details of those who have already been arrested. IGP Riffat Mukhtar informed the court about the cancellation of the CNICs of Hammad Siddiqui, Syed Taqi Haider Shah and Khurrum Nisar. He added that banks have been asked to freeze their bank accounts.