Like other parts of the country, our homeland’s financial hub Karachi too is in grip of lawlessness in the form of continuing graph of crimes. Hardly a day passes by without a street crime incidents. And the situation is so alarming that now a single day records various street crimes.

On Wednesday, as many as four street crime incidents occurred in the city. A youth and a cop were shot dead by dacoits in two separate incidents in the mega polis in different parts of the city. The first incident took place in Karachi’s Korangi area, in which a young man namely Qayum Umer, 24, was shot on resistance during a robbery bid near the Ghousia mosque in Korangi area. Separately,   a head constable was killed by robbers in an encounter in the same Korangi locality on Wednesday.

The cop martyred was identified as Manzoor, 38. In yet another incident, the street criminals injured two more cops during an encounter  within the Zaman Town police limits of Korangi area. The injured police constables, namely Khan Razik and Sajid, were on  snap-checking when they came across the muggers which led to encounter between the two.

One of the injured policemen is in critical condition. In fourth incident of  the day, Bin Qasim Station House Officer Idrees Bangash and a passer-by, Asif Ibrahim were fired at by  pillion riders when the formers were sitting at an estate agency office in Ahsanabad. The most painful aspect of the current wave of street crimes is that the criminals are killing the citizens on resistance which can be gauged from the increasing number of the above mentioned incidents.

According to the date released by The Citizen Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) ,  around 7576 cases of street crime were reported this year so far in the megapolis. It further says that the street criminals deprived around 2,260 people of their valuables including cell-phones at gunpoint last month.

Moreover, around 446 two-wheelers were snatched  while another 4,659 motorcycles were stolen from various parts of the city.

The vehicle theft is also on the rise and  over two hundred eight wheelers were stolen in the city during the same period.

Kidnaping for ransom is also on the rise and two incidents of the kind were reported last month, while 57 people were killed on resistence during dacoity and robbery bids.

Legal experts and security analysts attribute this ongoing wave of street cries to  worsening economic conditions in the country. It is welcome to note that CM Murad Ali Shah has taken strict notice of rising street crimes in city and issued directives to clean of street criminals who are on the rampage in the city. while presiding over a meeting on law and order in the province.

Though street crimes have also been rampant in big cities of the country including Karachi but due the economic meltdown, there is unprecedented rise in number of such crimes which can be attributed to the economic conditions of the people, who have become jobless and are turning to crimes to make both ends meet.  After the floods devastation, there is further rise in such crimes as the economy suffered more losses due to devastating floods that ravaged the entire country in summer with Sindh and Balochistan as the most affected provinces.

The number of street crimes compiled by the law enforcing agencies is alarming as according to the available  data  more than 56,500 cases of street crime took place in the mega city during the ongoing year i.e. during the first eight months of the current year.

In the wake of this multifold increase in street crimes, it is welcome that  CM Murad is issuing fresh directives for curing the street criminals and making them face the music. There is a need for an intelligence based operation to deal with the criminals. Citizens in grip of fear due to hike in street crimes. 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 muggers and robbers. Situation has reached an alarming level and the security administration of the city needs to be on high alert to curb such incidents.

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.

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 situation has reached an alarming level and as many as fifty-six citizens have lost their lives in dacoit bids in recent years. Right now the citizens are gripped by fear as they feel insecure while carrying out their routine work like attending the wedding parties, 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 due to which the number of persons killed on resistance has increased.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 23 2022

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