Attack on schools

The Karachi operation has been going on since September and, even though the authorities insist they are making significant headway, residents have yet to feel this change. People are still wary of making stopovers in dark lanes, they still eye motorcyclists with suspicions when they creep up on them at traffic signals and, worst of all, residents continue to receive extortion chits. According to a news report in this publication, a school in Orangi Town was attacked less than a week after a similar educational institute was targeted. In both these cases, there were thankfully no casualties reported but the police believe this was because these attacks were only meant to serve as warnings.

After the incident at The Nation School in Baldia, where militants stormed into the school, fired indiscriminate shots and killed the school principal, apart from injuring six others, schools are definitely scared to take these extortion demands lightly. A minor attack is bound to create enough fear to either make them pay extortion or pack up their facilities and move. Extortionists in the city have widened the circle of their victims. Initially, they were only targeting businesses and traders but now they have reached the doorsteps of educational institutions. This is not only affecting education levels in the city as parents are reluctant to send their children to schools under threat, but they are also negatively affecting the economy.

Fewer residents of the city are now willing to take up the initiative to set up their own businesses, preferring to work for someone else so they are exempted from such extortion demands. All these factors will have a long-term dampening effect on Karachi’s economy.

A holistic strategy by law-enforcement agencies and the government is needed to end this expanding extortion business by apprehending these gangs as soon as possible. If the city is cleansed of such gangs, more people will be willing to invest and children will be able to go to schools without fear of cracker attacks and bombs.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2013.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.