Crime infested Karachi streets becomes unsafe for its people
The port city of Pakistan, Karachi now faces a severe problem of increasing street crime. Recent incidents have resulted in the creation of a sense of lawlessness amongst the people, a report by The Express Tribune stated.
The incidents of street crimes in Karachi often get recorded on CCTV and go viral. The report also stated that this increase in street crime has now resulted in the loss of lives, claiming that 23 individuals have lost their lives in robbery-related incidents during January and February this year alone.
Quoting the data of the Citizen Police Liaison Committee, an organisation that collects crime data in Karachi the same report stated that “during January and February: a total of 106 fatalities occurred in the city, 11 cases of kidnapping for ransom were reported, a staggering 10,488 motorcycles and 441 cars were stolen, and approximately 4,000 incidents of mobile phone snatching were reported”.
Responding to the crisis at hand the Sindh administration has promised to recruit at least 12,000 new police personnel will be recruited for the port city’s 108 police stations, which will double the strength of the city’s police force, The Express Tribune stated quoting its sources. Furthermore, it must be noted that Karachi already has a police force of 48,000 personnel but only 12,000 officers are available for duty in the metropolis’s police stations.
Additional Inspector General Karachi, Khadim Hussain Rind when enquired about the details of the plan of recruitment of such heavy force, remained unresponsive. However, police sources, under the condition of anonymity said that the remaining personnel of the Karachi police have been deployed for protocol duties, the same report stated.
The report further stated that “Mere recruitment drives won’t suffice; we need comprehensive improvements in the police system,” emphasized Qazi Khizar, Vice Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Sindh. Khizar further asserted the importance of modernising police weaponry, enhancing training programs, and fostering a culture of accountability within police stations. Echoing similar sentiments, Dr Tauseef Ahmad, a former professor and senior columnist, stressed the importance of addressing underlying factors contributing to street crime.
The report also claimed that, the administration has previously allocated funds to increase and modernize the security apparatus of the port city, but implementation remains a work in progress, with a projected timeline of two years for completion, for the first phase alone.
