Karachi killings

There have been several killings in Karachi in the last week that confirm it as one of the most dangerous cities in the country — if not the subcontinent. The murder that made headlines briefly was that of a 35-year-old mother of two who was shot in the head as she sat in her car waiting to pick up her older son from his computer classes. There is no clear motive for the killing but the woman’s purse and cellphone are missing so it may have been a mugging. A life lost for the sake of a few rupees and a mobile phone. The murderer was on a motorbike, fired a single shot and sped away. Area residents say that mugging has become commonplace in the areas otherwise known for their affluence and relative security. The police seem helpless to stem the steady flow of violent crime.

On September 11, a member of the armed forces was kidnapped and killed allegedly by gangsters in Lyari. He was home on leave, had gone to get his cellphone repaired, and fell prey to criminals possibly seeking revenge for the killing of one of their number by the police on September 10. On the same day, a Shia homeopathic doctor was shot in Korangi 15 by ‘unidentified assailants’ who arrived by motorbike and murdered him in his dispensary.

The casual, almost arbitrary manner in which these killings were carried out has become commonplace, almost unremarkable, and no citizen anywhere in Karachi, be it the upmarket areas or the teeming slums, can ever feel entirely safe or sleep easy in their beds. Violent crime and gang warfare dominate the city, and the effects of the much-vaunted ‘operation’ to clean up the criminals seem to have been short-lived as well as ineffectual when it comes to catching the big fish that run the criminal underworld. They, having had prior notice of moves by the law-enforcing agencies, quickly left the country for safer climes. Law and order has to all intents and purposes, broken down. Fixable? Possibly, but you would have to fix the politics first.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2014.

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