Karachi: Many police stations lack phone facility

By S J A Jafri

Out of given and available landline phone numbers at 98 police stations in city, phones of 56 police stations are one-way, that is one can receive incoming calls but cannot make outgoing calls from the police stations, whereas 42 police stations of the city do not have even the facility of having landline telephone, and the existing working telephone numbers were also found to be fraught with disorders, it was learnt.
A survey conducted recently revealed that the police stations which did not have telephone lines or connected phone numbers were closed since a long time. Some police officers also complained that they must be given the phone and other conveyance facilities without which they cannot attend to their duties properly. On the other hand, people complain of delays in timely response by Madadgar 15 when helpless people in emergency situations find no alternative but to call 15 in the face of potential or real crimes threatening their lives.
Those people who still have faith in the law and abide by it face problems in making immediate contacts with police in case of crimes, emergency and threats against their lives or property. Media persons also encounter many problems in developing stories when they do not find easier access to police stations and law enforcers in meeting their professional obligations to report to the people on significant news and daily events.
Media persons have said the Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza was also being given wrong information as he had believed in and talked about a false report that most of the police stations, except a few, enjoyed phone facilities.
Many people including some media persons have appealed to the minister to launch an inquiry into these public complaints, ascertain the facts independent of vested interests, and facilitate the public and the media alike with timely legal help in daily emergency situations to avoid helplessness in the wake of crimes and casualties without facility of convenient communications by telephones. (NC Report)