Once again Karachiites are facing the onslaught of street criminals who are probing the citizens at gun point in broad day light. The situation has reached an alarming level and around fifty seven street crimes took place in the metropolis during the current year so far which speaks volume of the gravity of the situation.

More disturbingly, as many as 58 people were killed and over two hundred and fifty were injured by street criminals for resistence during robbery bids.  There is also an alarming rise in cases of home invasion which can be gauged from the data which shows that over three hundred home invasions took place in the city during the onoing year so far. Mobile snatching also remained rampant an around two hundred  people have been deprived from their cell phones during the first eight months of the year. On the other hand, vehicle theft also registered a rise and as many as 104 cars have been snatched at gun point while another 1,383 have been stolen from the city. The number of motorcyles stolen stands at 35,000 motorcycles which is also alarming.

Though street criminals have always been active in our society, but in the post-pandemic scenario, there is an unprecedented rise in such crimes.  

Karachi is no exception. People from all strata of society including the LEA personnel and the media men are equally exposed to the criminal activities by street criminals, who don't shy away from even killing the citizens on resistance to dacoits.  Situation has reached an alarming level and the security administration of the city needs to be on high alert to curb such incidents which are also taking toll on citizen's lives.  

In the wake of the alarming rise in street crimes,  the Karachi, Additional Inspector-General (AIG) Javed Alam Odho has announced to form a Shaheen Force with the sole purpose and duty of nabbing the street criminals and controlling the street crimes. However it remains to be seen how the  motorbike-mounted Shaheen Force which consists of sharpshooter becomes successful in its mission. 

This force personnel have been given the duty to patrol the markets and public places to avert the danger of  street crimes by keeping an eye on the muggers Most importantly, the personnel of this newly-formed  force have been equipped with modern weapons and radios to immediately react and respond to crime situation and detect the criminals as per directions received from the control room. The modus operand of the street criminals is that they loot people during traffic jams mostly at night and they are roaming in groups which indicate that they are well organized gangs. The situation has reached an alarming level and as many as over fifty citizens have lost their lives in dacoit bids so far.   The criminals are also targeting wedding gathering and in one such incident they killed a groom at his doorsteps in a dacoity bid. They first kill the security guards and then proceed with their crimes as is evident from the Gulistan-e-Jauhar area dacoity cases where a security guard namely was shot dead by armed robbers. Right now the citizens are gripped by fear as they feel insecure while carrying out their routine work like drawing cash from banks or ATMs,  going for shopping or going out for morning walks or buying essentials from the markets. 

Criminals appear to strike at will, targeting persons drawing cash from banks or ATMs; snatching purses, mobile phones and other valuables at gunpoint, threatening people trapped in traffic jams; and even shooting citizens over resistance to theft. In one such case of street crime in recent months, eighteen robberies were reported in a single week in Federal B area alone. According to the CCTV footages, dacoits looted the delivery boy on gun point in Lines area, whereas, three armed criminals threatened people in Federal B area and deprived them of their valuables; Criminals also physically manhandled the victims on resistance and made their escape good.

Last year also saw the street criminals on the rampage  and the citizens lost millions of rupees in armed robberies and snatching at gunpoint with no district of the city remaining safe from the reach of criminals.  The data compiled by LEAs shows that despite a growing number of cases and widespread coverage of street crime by the mainstream media and rising number of people's complaints, such incidents witnessed an upward trend, reason being the economic situation of the masses have worsened in pandemic and the number of street  criminals seems to have multiplied manifold. During the last nine months of 2021, the citizens in the most populous city of the country were deprived of 34,181 motorcycles, 14,578 mobile phones, and 1,268 four-wheeler vehicles. Motorbike and carjacking is also on the rise.  According to another data by Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) report on the soaring number of motorcycle and carjacking cases are a common occurrence in the mega city where stolen vehicles are sold at ease in specified markets where robbers thrive on by taking main share of the booty.    

The automobile parts of stolen vehicles are also easily available in the city at low prices and there is no check on the such business. The Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) has issued a report regarding street crimes in the current years in Karachi, and according to this recent report around 35,000 motorbikes were snatched and stolen during last year.   Meanwhile, the Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, taking notice of the situation, has said that Sindh govt is taking drastic measures to control and curb the street crimes in the mega city. He attributed the unprecedented rise in such crimes to economic woes of the masses in the post pandemic situation. However, he also acknowledged that being head of provincial government, it is his responsibility to maintain law and order in the province," the CM was quoted to have said.

Lauding the efforts of police, Rangers, and other LEAs,  the CM recalled that their support  in drive against terrorism helped eliminate terrorists from this mega city and  now it is time they should work with same zeal against the street criminals. As a matter of fact, the government, the LEAs, the police and the citizens have to work combined in a well-coordinated manner to come hard on criminals with a view to improving the overall law and order situation in the province. The CM statement shows that the provincial government has also sprang into action and steps are being taken to come hard on the street criminals to control the situation. 

Published in The Daily National Courier, September, 08 2022

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