KARACHI - Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Shamim Ahmed Firpo expressed deep concerns over rising street crimes all over the city and urged the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) to devise an effective and result-oriented strategy to completely thwart rising street crimes, which continue to haunt the citizens who are terribly frightened all the time on the streets of Karachi.

The KCCI president, in a statement, said that although substantial improvements have been witnessed in dealing with target killers, kidnappers, extortionists and terrorists after the commencement of Karachi Operation in 2013 but the street crimes, pertaining to snatching cash, mobiles, motorcycles, cars and other valuables, continue to worsen in every nook and corner of the city where Karachiites were fearlessly being looted not only during wee hours but also in broad daylight at some of the busiest streets.

He said that street crimes have triggered a persistent element of fear while commuting around which also restricts business growth as consumers tend to minimise their shopping amid fear of being robbed on the streets and the businesses particularly retailers have to bear the additional burden of security costs.

He said that it was a matter of grave concern that 60 locations of the city have been identified as highly unsafe where incidents pertaining to street crimes were frequently being reported every day but disappointingly, the elements responsible for carrying out criminal activities in these areas on a gunpoint were not being apprehended.

"Carrying pistols and fearlessly looting the masses at a location where police mobiles can easily be seen nearby carrying out snap checking or patrolling gives an impression that these criminals were probably carrying out their looting activities in close connivance with local police", he added.

Referring to a statement by the CPLC chief, the KCCI president acceded that it was a very serious issue that around 60 motorcycles and 35-40 mobile phones were either being snatched or stolen daily in Karachi which is intolerable.

He was of the opinion that the rising street crimes in Karachi pose serious question on the performance of LEAs particularly Police Department which continues to follow the obsolete policing methods to curb crimes.

He said, "There is a need to revamp police department on war footing basis as it is the prime responsibility of police to effectively deal with street crimes", adding that, unfortunately, this department was constantly being neglected both at the federal and provincial levels which was a sheer injustice to the citizens of Karachi.

He urged the federal and provincial governments to pay special attention to the issues of Karachi, particularly the rising street crimes which must be strictly tackled in order to ensure relief to Karachiites. He also demanded from the Sindh Police Inspector General to issue strict directives to all SSPs, DSPs and SHOs of the city to strictly curb rising street crimes within a specific timeframe in their respective jurisdictions.