KARACHI: Despite the tall claims of the government street crime and encroachments are constantly on the rise in Karachi, irking the citizens, said Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor here Sunday.
He said armed street criminals are active in different parts of the megacity as corruption-marred police focus more on fleecing citizens than protecting them. He said unlike Lahore and Islamabad, street crime is gradually becoming the identity of Karachi, which is very worrisome. The project of installing modern surveillance cameras in the city is still snail-paced and local police don’t know about the use of artificial intelligence in policing.
He said there is a lack of capacity in Sindh home department about modern policing methods. He said as per media reports many policemen in rural areas support bandits, while some cops in the urban areas themselve are involved in street crime, drug peddling and extortion. He said unless the police department is purged from these black sheep the dream of a crime-free society would continue to be a distant dream.
Altaf Shakoor said that once again the Sindh government has announced a big operation against roadside encroachments but the citizens know that such announcements are made after every couple of weeks to hoodwink people. He said encroachments in Karachi are a lucrative business and corrupt elements in police and KMC patronise it. This is fully known to the government and agencies but due to lack of political will no action is being taken to this mafia. He said not only small roads but even the Superhighway, now known as M-9 is teeming with encroachments on its green belts. He said from Sohrab Goth to Gadap police station green belts on both sides of the M-9 are seen occupied by illegal parking of tractors, dumpers, trucks and buses. He said sand and gravel traders also occupy the green belts of the M-9 as they pay extortion or Bhatta to police and other concerned departments. He said even donkey-carts ply on the M-9 which shows the real performance of our police and administration.
Altaf Shakoor demanded that some capable ministers should be appointed in the Sindh home and local government departments to control street crime and encroachments. These tasks need some able and committed people to run these crucial ministries directly related to the grassroots level issues of the general public. He said that the PPP has been running the provisional government of Sindh for decades and now it has its mayor and deputy mayor in Karachi but still it is handicapped in controlling both street crime and encroachments.
He urged the Sindh High Court (SHC) to take a suo moto notice on the issues of street crime and encroachments in Sindh particularly Karachi to give some relief to the people.
