Karachi [Pakistan], March 15 : A steep rise in street crime has been the latest matter of concern for the people of Karachi.
People in Karachi live in continuous fear of getting mugged when going out on the streets. Not just being limited to night, but recent incidents of robbery point out that robbers now are not refraining to attack and rob people even in broad daylight.
According to Manzar Rizvi, a prominent journalist belonging to the city, "the one to blame in this scenario is the administration. Robbers these days have very easy access to illegal weapons. There are entire gangs of robbers on the streets who orchestrate acts of street crime and robbery. They are not even leaving innocent people, sometimes they even enter hotels and malls."
"There are even cases of murders when people try to resist against the robbers. I myself know abut the at least 35 incidents of murders during robbery. It seems that these incidents are now becoming normal. As these criminals are not afraid of the law anymore. It seems that they are now sure that no one will stand against them, they are also not afraid of the police, because even if they are caught they get released in some time. Currently, the entire city seems to be grappled in a situation of lawlessness," he added.
While talking about the justice system, Rizvi added, "Even when there is some action taken against criminals by the police, only the petty criminals get arrested or killed, and the mob bosses still survive. They just bribe the authorities or find a loophole to remain free of any punishment. And whenever they get arrested for some time, they restart the life of crime once they are free. The court, police and the justice system now need to realise that punishing these criminals is the only way to get rid of such a problem."
Whereas, another Karachi citizen, Jani Soomro, said that the biggest reason for the rise in street crime incidents is unemployment.
"Another reason for the rise of such crimes is the popularization of drugs amongst youth, which again is somewhere related to unemployment. This is all a cycle, and it continues till date. On one side there is joblessness and then there is lawlessness. Adding to that is the support police provide to such criminals in return for bribes," he said.
When asked whether or not these crimes would decrease if the security was tightened, Soomro insisted, "that you may tighten the security but until law enforcement keeps sheltering criminals, nothing is going to improve."
Meanwhile, Sami, another citizen, also blamed inflation and price rises for a steep increase in street crime.
He elaborated that because of joblessness and inflation, the people who are educated are forced to turn to street crime. Sometimes innocent and misguided youth also become the target of gang members, as they are always on the lookout for such kids who can be manipulated to get involved in street crime.
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