KARACHI – The increasing rate of street crime and unstopped targeted killing have put the citizens at the mercy of brutal criminals in the city while the murders of more than 1,000 people during the ongoing year have also exposed the tall claims of the law-enforcement agencies.
The current statistics of street crime for Karachi, prepared by Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), are just mind blowing for those people who think for the betterment of the country. The statistics show that there is a storm of street crimes in the largest city of the country but the government and authorities concerned are just silent spectators over the issue.
As per the report of CPLC, from January 1 to August 31, 2012, as many as 3,608 four-wheelers were theft or snatched by street criminals in the streets and roads of the metropolis, while 14,753 motorcycles were also theft or snatched. Apart from this, the citizens have lost 14,733 cell phones in the cases of street crimes reported in the city during the said time period.
As per CPLC statistics for 2012, there were a total of 3,608 reported vehicle thefts and snatching in Karachi with an average of 451 per month, while 515 vehicles were stolen or snatched only in May 2012, which is the highest number.
CPLC statistics indicate that 934 vehicles were snatched while 2,674 were theft. As many as 14,753 motorcycles were theft and 1844 per month were snatched, while 2,103 motorcycles were robed only in July, which is the highest in numbers.
Cell phone theft and snatching in the city has become a dilemma as the citizens lost 14,733 cell phones in the cases of street crimes during last eight years.
“Pakistan spends billions of rupees in the name of the national security, but people of the country are living under the dilemma of insecurity, and have been left at the mercy of criminals and terrorists. The current poor law and order situation prevailing in the metropolis as well in the country shows that our forces are not able to control even street criminals.”These views were expressed by the citizens, belonging to various walks of life, while talking to TheNation.
Zafer Ahmed, a director-level officer in the government department, said that he do not know why he was giving taxes to the government, who had completely failed to protect the precious lives of the citizens. The people are being killed on political and sectarian grounds but the authorities concerned are unconcerned with the issue, he added.
A college teacher, on a condition of anonymity, said that he was waiting for his turn to be killed. He said, “I want to know from our secret services and law enforcers that who will protect us from the menace of the criminals and terrorists. We have lost thousand of people on account of political and sectarian grounds, while majority of the killed people were doctors, engineers, teachers, businessmen, lawyers etc.”
Even in India, Muslims’ holy places are safe but in Pakistan Muslims cannot perform their prayer without the protection of armed men or police, Wajid, a owner of general store, said and added that the level of insecurity among the citizens can be gauged from this example that citizens have now started sending SMS on cell phones of others, advising pray Quranic verse or dua for the protection against criminals.
Everyone knows that these targeted murders are perpetrated on the political, religious and ethnic grounds but no one raises voice against this national threat, he said.
On a condition of anonymity, a senior professor of Karachi University said the one should come forward to decode the term of establishment, which is responsible for all wrong doings in the country.
“The time has come that every Pakistan should be informed about the people who are in the establishment? Who is running this? Every politician blame the establishment even for wrong foreign polices of the country, but no one is there to expose this menace in front of the people,” he said.