On Friday, elected lawmakers from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan (MQM-P) voiced significant worry over the increase in street violence in Karachi.
In a unified statement, they claimed that the police and the municipal administration had failed to control the criminals involved in snatching, stealing, and robbery occurrences in the city.
They highlighted that Karachi residents are losing products worth millions of rupees every day, with record-breaking occurrences occurring in recent months, particularly during the holy month of Ramadan.
“Criminals have made it a pastime to not only steal things but even kill people without remorse. An alarming surge in motorcycle, automobile, and mobile phone theft and snatching occurrences calls into question the police and administration’s effectiveness.”
MQM-P leaders criticized the plan to give over the metropolitan metropolis to police officers from remote districts of Sindh, calling it a prejudiced action.
They stated that, like other cities, Karachi needs a municipal policing apparatus.
They described the Sindh government as “incompetent and biased,” accusing it of transforming “Pakistan’s largest city into a haven for professional thieves and robbers.”
They questioned the government’s intentions, asking if citizens were intentionally left at the mercy of thieves and robbers, if the government was taking commissions from thieves and robbers after contractors, and if this was how the city that paid the highest taxes in the world was treated.
They demanded that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, and Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori take notice of Karachi’s increased street crime and “show mercy to the citizens, ensure their safety, and relieve them from this financial, physical, and mental distress.”
Maria Ghanchi