The report, released on Tuesday, said their findings had shown Punjab as a province and Lahore as a city to be a favourite hunting ground for car lifters and snatchers with 742 reported incidents. Faisalabad was a distant second with 234 reported incidents.
FAFEN observers visited 86 offices of District Police Officers (DPOs) to collect data on the First Information Reports (FIRs) registered for 27 offences falling under the Pakistan Penal Code.
They also recorded 721 cases of vehicle snatching registered in 52 districts. Of these, 458 cases were in the 26 districts of Punjab, 229 in 16 districts of Sindh, 27 in four Balochistan districts and seven in six districts of Khyber-PakhtunKhwa.
The observers learnt there were as many as 7,619 FIRs registered for crimes relating to property. Of these, theft constituted 32 per cent of the FIRs, followed by car-lifting (27 per cent), robbery and dacoity (24 per cent), vehicle snatching (nine per cent), criminal trespassing (six per cent) and extortion and criminal misappropriation of property (less than one per cent each).
In the months under review, a total of 45,448 FIRs were lodged in the monitored districts. 63 per cent of these were filed for offences grouped as ‘other crimes’, followed by those pertaining to property (17 per cent), assault (11 per cent), threat and fraud (7 per cent) and crimes against women (3 per cent).
A province-wise analysis shows that Punjab had the most FIRs reported (63 per cent), followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (21 per cent), Sindh (14 per cent) while Balochistan and Islamabad Capital Territory had one per cent each.
The reasons for better reporting of crimes in Punjab was explained by a better outreach program, lack of parallel judicial systems and high level of trust and confidence between the police and the people.
The report stated that only crimes resulting in physical harm saw an overall increase in the aforementioned months, which escalated from 48 FIRs per district in April to 58 in May. There were 4,989 FIRs lodged for assault (47 per cent), attempted murder (25 per cent), murder (20 per cent), accidental death (qatl-i-khata; five per cent), murder (qatl-bis-sabab; two per cent), illegal confinement (two per cent) and terrorism (less than one per cent).
Fraud and threat
In the threat and fraud category, only counterfeiting currency increased in the observed month, up from 39 FIRs per district to 42. A total of 3,087 cases of threat and fraud crimes were reported in May (36 FIRs per district as compared to 37 in April).
Out of the total FIRs for threat and fraud, 58 per cent were for counterfeiting currency, cheating (19 per cent), criminal breach of trust (12 per cent), offences against public tranquility (six per cent), criminal intimidation (five per cent) and five per cent for fraudulent deeds and dispossession of property.
Crimes against women
1,226 FIRs were also lodged for crimes against women. These included FIRs for forced marriages (32 per- cent), outraging modesty by assault or criminal force (30 per cent), and rape (22 per cent), marriage related offences (11 per cent), honour killings (four per cent) and verbal assault of women’s modesty (one per cent).
46 per cent of the FIRs were registered in only 10 districts, the most being lodged in Lahore (13 per cent), Faisalabad (six per cent) and Peshawar (five per cent).
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It is a good thing that crimes have been reported and data have been provided. Even FIRs have been lodged, But kindly, can you tell us of what happened of all this. Did the police or related department work to find the culprits? It is a sad thing indeed that one such reported stolen vehicle was of a close relative. While sorting the case on his own with the help of friends, they managed to trace the main gang or mafia behind such acts, and it came out to be a very well known personality even a portfolio holder in politics, who resides in the Faisalabad region with a network that spreads from samundari area up to swat area in KPK region. Some reporters I heard are writing a story of car theft problem in this area which will clearly unveil the tycoon behind such acts. It is so funny that even though people know him as the master mind behind such thefts, no one dares to point a finger at him due to his position and some have it that the police are also involved as they get a fair amount.