KARACHI: Concerned about an alarming rise in cases of muggings and killings of citizens in the city, a senior leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan has demanded an operation against street criminals and has hinted at leaving the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led coalition government if the killing of innocent people does not cease.
“The MQM-P will leave any government if people continue to be killed in Karachi due to street crime,” stated former federal minister and Senator Faisal Subzwari.
Senator Subzwari’s veiled warning came after Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah acknowledged that Karachi’s law and order situation has deteriorated in recent months.
Senator Subzwari told the reporters on the grounds of the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday, where he had arrived with MPAs from his party for the Senate election, that over 50 individuals had been slain in street crime in Karachi in the previous three months, but there was no one to arrest the perpetrators.
He claimed that formerly, every targeted death was blamed on the MQM-P, and the institutions would take action against his party.
He claimed that if such a killing had occurred elsewhere, calls for an operation would have risen. “However, an operation against street criminals is not being demanded by political parties in Karachi,” he said.
He emphasized the importance of an anti-street crime campaign, stating that city residents did not have the same weaponry as criminals. “I don’t know why the operation is not being started in Karachi,” he said.
He said that Karachi’s youth were being slain for a few thousand rupees.
Senator Subzwari requested the federal interior ministry and the Rangers’ director general to take note of the worrisome increase in street crime and the deaths of innocent persons.
The MQM-P leader took objection to Home Minister Zia Lanjar’s recent comments on the city’s street crime problem, claiming that the minister was making a joke of it. “He is home minister, not a joke minister,” he said with a laugh.
He stated that it was the responsibility of the home minister to provide police intelligence to combat street violence in the metropolis.
The MQM-P leader stated that the Pakistan Peoples Party has been in power in the province for 15 years, but the law and order situation has remained frightening during its term.
He claimed that the residents of the city were perplexed as to who would address their problems.
He stated that the agreements with the IMF belonged to the state, not the government. “If the country defaults, the price of bread will reach Rs200,” he said.
When asked about the replacement of Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori, Senator Subzwari stated that there was no conversation about changing the governor and that it was not even being considered.
CM recognizes that law and order are lacking.
Meanwhile, speaking to the media on the grounds of the Sindh Assembly just before voting in the Senate election on Tuesday, CM Shah stated that the provincial government was adopting rigorous steps to enhance peace and order in the province.
“These measures include addressing street crime in Karachi and kidnapping for ransom in the riverine area,” he went on to say.
He also admitted that law and order were not good under their previous term, and that they deteriorated even more during the caretaker administration. He stated that the situation was not as awful during his prior term, as it was in January and February.
“However, the provincial government is committed to improving the situation and is taking steps to achieve this goal,” he said.
In response to a query, CM Shah remarked that during his last tenure, he adopted effective steps to strengthen the province’s law and order.
He claimed that street violence in the city had been reduced, and that police pickets had been set up along the Indus River embankment to keep robbers at bay.
CM Shah also stated that his administration was taking rigorous efforts to combat street criminals and dacoits, and he guaranteed that the situation will improve soon.
Maria Ghanchi