Once again brought home the dangers that lurk on the streets of Karachi. Armed men waylaid a car in which a cotton trader from Daharki who had just withdrawn a large sum of money from a bank was traveling with his brother. When he put up resistance, the criminals shot him and made off with the looted cash.
The wounded man died in hospital during treatment. In the other incident, a newly married 28-year-old was killed at the door of his residence when he opened it to let in his mother and sister and was fired upon by a mugger intent on depriving the women of their jewelry. That same evening, another man was shot dead while resisting a robbery on Superhighway. The opposition in Sindh has laid into the PPP-led government for ‘letting criminals loose’ on unarmed civilians and demanded that the Rangers be directed to conduct a wide-ranging operation against the criminal elements in the city.
When the Rangers-led cleanup operation in Karachi commenced in 2013, the metropolis was a hotbed of ethnic, political, and sectarian violence with rampant targeted killings, kidnapping for ransom, and bank robberies. The crackdown against these major crimes by the paramilitary, which was their mandate, also led to a simultaneous drop in street crimes, especially vehicle theft and mobile snatching. In the years since, however, even while major crimes have remained under control, the graph of street crime has started rising, with spikes occurring every now and then. But it is the duty of the police to protect the citizens, and we must demand they do a better job of it. For one, more high-quality security cameras must be installed at crime hotspots and there should be increased police patrolling.
This is a matter that needs far more attention from the government – especially efforts by the Sindh government whose primary responsibility is ensuring the safety of the residents of its province. Karachi has faced street crime in the past, but the resurgence of the violence on the scale in the last few days has left people shaken. It is quite obvious that no one is safe, whether they are at a bank, at a shop, or merely on the road. Even an attempt at a hold-up or a snatching leaves people traumatised and in shock and they have nothing to add to the image of the government or introduce a sense of security in a city, which has experienced crime for far too long.
This cannot continue. Karachi cannot be expected to go right back to a time where your day could pretty well end up with an FIR for a stolen phone or bag or bike or car – or much worse.
