Pakistan Reader# 741, 9 April 2024
Dhriti Mukherjee
PR Commentary
On 8 April, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) noted that the law-and-order situation in Karachi had “deteriorated alarmingly,” pointing out that in 2023, “tens of thousands of street crimes were registered by the police” wherein “over a hundred people lost their lives. The first quarter of 2024 has followed the same pattern.” Earlier last week, during a high-level security meeting, data showed that street criminals shot 250 Karachiites dead and injured 1,052 others between 2022 and 28 March 2024.
In 2022, the number of people killed by muggers increased to 111; in 2023, 108 people were killed during robbery resistance, and 469 were injured by robbers. Also in 2023, as per Karachi police, two banks were robbed and cases of kidnapping and extortion increased. On 28 February, the Inspector General of Police, Riffat Mukhtar, told Sindh’s Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah that within the incidents of street crime, mobile phones are the most frequently stolen. During the first two months of 2024, 3,953 mobile phones were snatched at gunpoint in Karachi. Additionally, during the same period, 46 cars and 1,537 motorbikes were stolen by criminals. Shah also pointed out that there was an “increasing trend of street crime and kidnapping for ransom in Larkana and Sukkur divisions.”
Street Crimes in Karachi: What are the reasons?
As per the HRCP, “underlying factors such as economic desperation and unemployment” caused by soaring inflation have majorly contributed to a surge in street crimes. Poor economic conditions have often forced many criminals to engage in activities such as extortion. Aside from this, as per the in-charge of the Counter Terrorism Department Raja Umar Khattab, the online delivery of arms has exacerbated this issue. Individuals can place an online order for arms which are then delivered from various places but most prominently Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, causing 70 per cent of illegal weapons entering Karachi through online channels via passenger buses and courier services. Students and hobbyists have also been engaging in the online purchase of weapons, leading to a further weakening of security.
Former CPLC chief Sharafuddin Memon pointed out that the youth in the slum areas were “tempted” to commit crimes as in slum areas, economic conditions were dismal with youths jobless with no skills or education. Memon, along with other senior officials and the HRCP, have also identified the retaliatory vigilantism and increased brutality by citizens who had lost faith in the law enforcement, as a reason for a continuing cycle of violence. An editorial in The Express Tribune stated that the public resistance has led to a “dangerous cycle of vigilantism” which “only serves to add to tensions and escalate violence, undermining the rule of law and exacerbating the sense of insecurity among residents.” He highlighted how citizens had begun showing a “reaction” to unbated street crimes and dacoits who were already in a “panic condition,” causing the killing of citizens to go up during robbery related incidents.
What has been the government’s role?
The government has been unsuccessful in combating street crimes for a host of reasons. Bad policing and weak investigations are the most significant causes. Mukhtar during his meeting with Shah on 28 February stated that while the strength of the Karachi police was 48,000, only 12,000 law enforcers were posted at police stations. There were also 25,000 vacant posts of policemen in Sindh. An editorial in The Express Tribune contended: “This shortage of personnel hampers the ability of law enforcement agencies to adequately patrol the city and respond swiftly to incidents of street crime.” Mukhtar also informed Shah that all of the 708 police stations in Sindh, including 108 in Karachi, were in a dilapidated state. Senior police officials alleged that SHOs run “vice dens” within their jurisdiction instead of controlling crime, which has not been addressed by the government.
Aside from bad policing, a weak investigation process and inadequate jail term that have both not been effectively dealt with by the government are to blame. Shah himself noted: “Due to poor investigation, heinous criminals get bail and again go into their crime world.” The West Zone DIG, Irfan Ali Baloch, said that in his area itself, 600 street criminals who were arrested had been released from prisons and were committing crimes again.
Multiple parties have blamed the PPP-led government in Sindh for failing to control street crimes. On 7 April 2024, MQM-P Senator Faisal Subzwari claimed that the government was not taking any action “against armed gangs and dacoits in Kashmore or against street crime in Karachi.” He also raised a question of whether the police were complicit in crimes, considering the fact that there are police checkpoints present at all entry and exit points of the city. On 10 September 2022, the then Chief of the Karachi chapter of JI, Engr Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, said in the last 15 days only, several Karachiites were killed in roadside robberies. Highlighting 4,000 reported cases of street crimes as the tip of the iceberg, he argued that the government and police department have not discharged their basic duty as a sufficient number of personnel had not been deployed. On 8 November 2021, the then PTI-Karachi president, Khurram Sher Zaman, contended in the Sindh High Court that the “Sindh government has failed to curb street crime across the province.”
References
“HRCP expresses concern over ‘alarming deterioration’ in law and order in Karachi,” Dawn, 8 April 2024;
“Street-crime upsurge: MQM-P urges action on Karachi security,” The Express Tribune, 7 April 2024;
“Street crime epidemic,” The Express Tribune, 7 April 2024;
Imtiaz Ali, “Karachi sliding towards lawlessness as robbers kill over 250 citizens in three years,” Dawn, 5 April 2024;
“Persistent street crimes,” The Express Tribune, 3 March 2024;
“Street crime claimed 23 Karachiites’ lives in two months, IGP tells Murad,” Dawn, 29 February 2024;
“Street crimes in Karachi: 90,000 cases reported in 2023,” Business Recorder, 9 January 2024;
“JI slams Sindh govt over rising street crimes,” Business Recorder, 11 September 2022;
“PTI blames Sindh govt for failing to curb street crime,” Dawn, 9 November 2021
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