This ban overlooks the major inconvenience caused to a sizeable chunk of Karachi’s commuting and working population.
KARACHI: To curb rising street crime and killings in Karachi, the Sindh government has yet again imposed a ban on pillion riding for a month. This ban has been imposed time and again in order to improve the law and order situation, but the state of affairs in Karachi has gone from bad to worse. People are still being mugged and killed despite the ban, hence indicating that it does not serve as a solution to the extremely grave law and order situation of the city. It is true that the majority of street crimes and targeted killings are perpetrated by men riding motorcycles but a ban is not the right solution to this problem.
A large number of Karachiites use motorcycles to go to work, and to visit friends and relatives. There are over 1.2 million registered motorcycles, which carry over two million commuters daily. This ban overlooks the major inconvenience caused to a sizeable chunk of Karachi’s commuting and working population that uses motorcycles. It is important to mention that the strength of public transport in Karachi is quite thin as CNG stations are closed three days a week, forcing commuters to wait at bus stops in long queues for hours.Taking advantage of the situation, drivers of taxis and rickshaws overcharge commuters.
I would like to ask the authorities why ordinary people are being punished for a problem that should be resolved by better policing and law enforcement. People may be forced to break the ban in case of an emergency, with two or more people needing to ride a motorcycle at the same time. In such cases, policemen will be seen fleecing citizens rather than doing their duty and keeping an eye on criminals. So, the beneficiary of this prohibition seems just to be the police.
In short, let’s not punish the ordinary citizens who share rides out of necessity because the government is unable to arrest the real culprits through proper law enforcement.
Muhammad Zafir Zia
Published in The Express Tribune, January 29th, 2014.
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