KARACHI (Staff Report) – Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah on Saturday formed a task force following the Rangers report on extortion and black money in Karachi.
The force headed by Justice (retd) Ghulam Sarwar Korai will determine the elements involved in the financing of terrorists and criminal gangs operating within the city.
Sessions judge Arjun Ram and Interior secretary Mukhtar Soomro will also be a part of force which will propose their suggestions for bringing a stop to terror financing in Karachi.
DG Rangers Major General Bilal Akbar, during the apex committee meeting, claimed that Rs230 billion gets collected from illegitimate means every year from Karachi.
It was further revealed that the money earned through the illegal means is also distributed among the influential personalities and gang war groups.
The DG Rangers also told the committee that the millions of rupees are distributed to gang war factions that use it to buy weapons and to maintain armed groups. The money is also used to fund and maintain militant wings of political and religious parties, he added.
The Rangers head further revealed that the illegal money is forcefully taken in the name of Zakaat and Fitrah while the money obtained by collecting and selling skins of sacrificial animals also contribute a major portion into the fund.
Small markets, bazaars and even schools are regularly extorted and the money collected from there amounts to several millions, it was learnt.
Land grabbing and china cutting is also distributed into three parts and political parties, city district government, district administration and police are also the part of the mafia, the DG told the apex committee.
The participants of the committee were further told that a major political party acts as a patron of the possession mafia while other political leaders and builders are also part of this illegal business.
The amount earned through the smuggling of Iranian diesel is also a major source of funding for terrorism, Maj Gen Bilal said, adding the hoarding and illegal supply of water is also used for this purpose.
Other means of illegitimate sources of businesses include illegal wedding halls, parking areas, drugs, money laundering and match fixing.
