LAHORE: Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has claimed that Punjab has witnessed a significant decline in the crime rate.

While addressing a press conference here on Saturday, she said that murder cases have shown a sharp decline during the first five months of 2021. “A total of 927 were reported this year while the number was 1,728 in 2018. Moreover, a 50 percent decrease was witnessed in murder cases during dacoity/robbery incidents,” she added.

According to her, child abuse cases have also decreased in Punjab; 354 cases were registered in 2021 while this number was 581 in 2018. The number of robbery cases was 5967 in 2018 and 5188 cases were registered in 2021. A major drop in cases of kidnapping for ransom has been observed with 10 cases in 2021 as compared to 59 in 2018.

Talking about the performance of the law enforcement agencies, the Special Assistant averred that 18,136 cases were registered during the campaign against narcotics in the first five months of 2021 with a recovery of 12,015 kg of chars and 917 kg of heroin whereas 16,530 cases.

“The Punjab government took action against 1244 outlaws since May 2021 and the police registered 1137 cases against land grabbers in 2021. The police retrieved state land worth Rs 18.71 billion and private property worth Rs 5.72 billion till April 2021. Moreover, the lone terrorist incident of 2021 was traced within 24 hours while four terrorism-related cases were registered in 2021,” she added.

She said that reforms are being introduced in departments to improve their performance and changes are being made in the police department. “In the past, police stations were used for illegal occupation of properties, and opponents were victimized.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021