Countering crimes

Violent crimes on the rise, citizens urged not to resist robberies

Karachi: Incidents of street crimes in Karachi turned more violent this year as 106 people were killed at the hands of bandits while resisting robbery attempts in the metropolis as compared to 69 killings in the previous year.

City police chief the Additional IG Karachi Javed Alam Odho told Bol News, “No doubt, the element of violence in street crime is on the rise as more people were killed this year. However, an increase of eight per cent in overall crime data cannot be stated as alarming considering the huge population of Karachi.”

However, he couldn’t elaborate on the reasons behind the increase in violent incidents of street crime. He just reiterated that the people should not put up resistance at the time of the robbery.

Senior journalist of a TV channel Athar Mateen also lost his life at the hands of robbers. Athar saw a robbery in progress in North Nazimabad and tried to hit the robbers with his car. The robbers survived and shot him on the spot.

Amid rising crimes, alleged encounters by the police also went up by almost 70 per cent this year. The police killed 118 suspect robbers against 39 last year. They also injured 973 in over 800 alleged encounters and arrested over 8,000 suspected robbers.

Referring to the cases of snatching mobile phones, motorbikes or belongings, the Karachi police chief said that the incidents decreased by three per cent as compared to the previous year.

He said that almost 30 thousand mobile phones were snatched since January this year, witnessing an increase of 16 per cent as compared to the previous year. Similarly, 30 to 40 thousand motorbikes were lifted while the snatching incidents of motorcycles at gunpoint were rare this year which stood at six to seven per cent. Pointing out the hotspots, he said, “the hotspots of criminal activities always change with time, so we also move our focus and shift our pickets as required. The hotspots have been identified in areas of district central, district east and district Korangi which form an arch if you see the map.”

He said these areas were thickly populated and most of the people belonged to the lower middle or middle class. The criminal elements changed their locations but they committed crimes in those areas because they could easily disappear into narrow streets.

Talking about the involvement of criminals, the Karachi police chief did not give details but said that Afghans and Pashtun people were found involved in criminal activities and took their refuge around Korangi nullah. Likewise, the other elements who committed snatching and theft activities were drug addicts.

He said that the growing unemployment was another factor behind rising street crimes. A few people who got unemployed also got involved in criminal activities. However, the police statistics were slightly different from the figures mentioned by the Additional IG Karachi. These statistics stated that 106 people were killed in street crimes while putting up resistance to robbers and 419 others got injured.

These figures said that 27,249 mobile phones were snatched at gunpoint from citizens since January this year. As far as car theft is concerned, 185 four-wheelers were taken away at gunpoint by robbers while 1,981 vehicles were stolen. Last year, 230 cars were snatched at gunpoint while more or less 1,700 got stolen.

Similarly, 4,462 motorcycles were snatched at gunpoint from unarmed citizens this year while 4,251 motorbikes were snatched last year. Another 47,921 motorcycles were stolen this year as compared to 44,536 during the previous year.

Chief of the Community Police Karachi and former Deputy Chief of the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) Murad Soni has blamed Afghans for their involvement in the majority of street crimes. He says the influx of Afghans and their involvement in crime have increased manifold for they do not have any travel or identity documents. About increasing violence in street crime, Murad Soni said that Afghans did not hesitate in opening fire upon the slightest resistance. “If the government does not take notice of this, no house will be immune from Afghan criminals in the city during the next three years”, he claimed.

Experts disagree with this growing stance among the Karachi police officials. “You cannot blame the Afghan element only by ignoring the local element,” Dr Naima Saeed, Assistant Professor Department of Criminology, University of Karachi contested the stance of Murad Soni.

She said that there was no maintenance of any record of statistics or documents which could be the basis for making an opinion. “No doubt Afghans will not hesitate in using firearms as they are used to it but the police cannot exonerate itself by blaming the involvement of Afghan elements saying that it could not stop their influx in Karachi.”

“Recently I went to the remand room where I noticed that Pashto, Baloch and Saraiki-speaking juveniles were more in numbers,” she said, adding that the research should be carried out before devising any policy to effectively control street crime.

Besides, the unemployment rate is also high which also contributed to the rising incidents of crime, she said adding, “roads are dilapidated, causing traffic jams and becoming hotspots for crime. The police and government must ensure security in such places.”