We know that crime in Karachi has been a problem for years. Some 20 years ago, a large number of people shifted out of the city towards Islamabad and Lahore because of the street crime they faced as well as terrorism and violent political and ethnic clashes in the city. We now appear to be moving towards a similar situation once again. On February 18, in the Nazimabad area robbers shot dead a journalist working with a private news channel. Forty-two-year-old Athar Mateen, a senior producer with Samaa TV, lost his life as he was returning home after dropping off his children to their school. This is the nature of crime that has once again become common, as hardly a day passes by without a citizen or two becoming victims of trigger-happy robbers. Though the Sindh government has recently appointed a new city police chief, such changes seldom produce the desired results. Crimes continue unabated despite frequent postings and reposting of top police officers. Karachi is not only Sindh’s provincial capital, it is the largest metropolis of the country and its commercial and industrial hub as well. It has a large police force and a sizable Rangers’ presence too. But unfortunately, both appear to be inadequate to stem the tide of crimes in Karachi.
If you look at the investigative branch and the operations wings of the police and rangers, there is an evident lack of alacrity in the operations. Dealing with crime requires much more alert and agile law-enforcement which the citizens of Karachi have not witnessed for long. The problem of street crimes is particularly alarming and needs immediate attention. Muggings, snatching of cars, and even murders in streets have traumatised Karachi's residents with a regularity not seen that often in other cities of Pakistan, though crime in Islamabad is fast catching up with that in Karachi. One way to maybe keep a stricter check on the city is to install more CCTV cameras. While a more surveilled society on paper may sound safer, that would also require better policing which has not been the case till now. According to some estimates, as many as 30,000 cameras were installed at petrol pumps and big shops under the Sindh Security of Vulnerable Establishment Act 2015. Where these cameras are now and whether they still work is debatable.
The business community of Karachi has also been expressing its concern over growing incidents of street crimes which law-enforcement agencies have remained unsuccessful in dealing with. There is a need to take these crimes seriously and restore the writ of the government. Tackling this requires vision and patience, qualities that the Sindh government has not exhibited till now. Any cosmetic measures will only disproportionately affect the middle- and lower-income classes. The city of Karachi needs a firmer grip on the violence of street crimes, with all political stakeholders coming together on one page to deal with it.