Scary times in Karachi

Inflation and dwindling job opportunities with the easy availability of firearms, is producing a lethal effect

Fear of death and robbery stares people in the face in Karachi whether they are in the market, in the street or even at home. The level of horror can be gauged from the fact that in less than two months of the new year, 15 persons have been shot dead in the city by street criminals while resisting robberies. The year began with an ominous note when on Jan 1 a policeman was gunned down. On Feb 18, robbers killed a 45-year-old journalist when he tried to protect himself. Earlier, a newly-married young man was shot dead at his residence. The alleged killer in the latter case is reportedly a policeman. Now robbers kill people upon slightest resistance. While the number of homicides has registered a rapid rise within a short time, many people lost their valuables to robbers. During the period under discussion, more than 4,000 vehicles — cars and motorcycles — have been hijacked, and an equal number of mobile phones have been taken away, at gunpoint. Street criminals are getting emboldened by the day. These statistics should be enough to ring alarm bells in quarters tasked with maintaining law and order.

There is, of course, a correlation between the galloping inflation, price rise and dwindling job opportunities. This, coupled with the easy availability of firearms, is producing a lethal effect. This also establishes the old adage: poverty breeds crime. Youths have no employment and more and more of them are joining the ranks of jobless. Desperation is driving them to crime. When people have no money in their wallets and their bellies are without food, they lose all human considerations, and turn into monsters. There is no reason why the authorities should be ignorant of the causes of crime. In this hi-tech age, it is not difficult to control crime. Hidden surveillance cameras installed at various vulnerable points in the city should be kept in full working conditions, and other modern devices and ways to control crime should be deployed. There is also the need to keep anti-social elements under constant surveillance. It’s time to act.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2022.

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