Sector I-10: Where criminals rule the roost

Incidents of purse snatching, car thefts, robberies on a high in Sabzi Mandi area.

ISLAMABAD: Sector I-10 has become a centre of street crime. Around six to 10 women, while going to the market or for a walk, lose their purses and cell phones to muggers on motorbikes everyday. Moreover, over half a dozen cars and motorbikes have been stolen from the area during the past month and a half. At night, impersonators in the uniform of police flashing blue lights on their private vehicles loot people on the pretext of search and security.

Much to the dismay of the locals, the police have failed to improve the situation. “Instead of arresting the suspects, the duty officers of the Sabzi Mandi Police Station start interrogating the complainants,” said Imtiaz Wali, a local.

“They harass the complainants threatening to book them under section 142 of CrPC for misguiding police, terming the complaints lies,” he added. Wali said that after such a response from the police, those seeking justice preferred to sit back and remain silent.

The residents of the area have appealed to the Inspector General of Police and the Senior Superintendent of Police to take notice. Requesting anonymity, the residents said that in the area, robbers who display fake number plates of police on their vehicles were looting the people.  A few days back, some people pretending to be officials of CIA and displaying blue light on their vehicle snatched Rs150,000 from a trader of rice.

On Sunday, the residents had called the police after identifying two muggers standing at a street-corner shop who had been involved in snatching Rs20,000, but the police did not come.

These men had also taken ransom in a kidnapping incident eight years ago. In this regard, a person called the office of The Express Tribune and said he had seen the person who had kidnapped him after offering lift on his car eight years ago. “The suspect again offered me a lift in a similar fashion, but escaped after I called for help,” said the complainant.

“The police did not arrest these suspects despite the passage of eight years after repeated calls to the SHO of the police station,” he added. The residents of the area have demanded registration of an FIR against the SHO of the Sabzi Mandi police station for deliberately ignoring the crime.

On the other hand, if the performance of the police station is to be taken into account, the Sabzi Mandi police station, according to police’s own report, had only registered cases on 150 thefts, robbery and mugging out of over 300 such incidents.

Its overall performance also remained poor. Out of the 150 registered cases, the Sabzi Mandi police could follow up on only 14. A total of 57 cars and motorcycles were stolen, out of which only three could be traced.

The present SHO of Sabzi Mandi was previously deputed at the Shalimar Police Station from where he had been removed for rise crime. “Now when he has been transferred here, the incidents of street crime and car theft have increased alarmingly in this area,” said Ali, another local.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2011.