KARACHI, March 9: As the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) prepares to form the provincial government, the rising number of street crimes, mainly in the metropolis, is likely to create problems for the new political force, considering the lethal trends that have taken shape during the last government’s tenure.
Figures compiled by the police authorities and institutions concerned have set alarm bells ringing for the new administration: observers believe that curbing street crimes — which have killed hundreds of people during the last five years and deprived citizens of valuables worth millions — should be the new government’s priority.“Street crimes remained the main headache of the last administration,” said a source in the police citing recently compiled data of the crimes.
“With an increase in the subscriber base of cellphone users by the end of 2004, it
became easier than ever to rob anyone on the street. And obviously, it also resulted in collateral damage in terms of losses of lives.”
The data showed more than 100,000 people lost their cellphones since the crime wave began in 2004, which also cost 200 people their lives in the city.
“A total of 134,111 cellphones were snatched between January 2004 and December 2007,” said the police source. “Before 2004, cellphone snatching or theft did not feature in the trend of crimes as criminals relied mainly on house robberies and vehicle snatching.”
The year 2004 ended with only 369 cellphone snatching complaints, he added. However, he said these complaints increased at a staggering pace during the years, as by the end of 2007, 59,744 such cases were registered by police stations across the city.
Similarly, the last fives years of the previous government’s rule were also filled with car snatching activities, which kept increasing pace with each passing year.
Though the law-enforcers managed to recover stolen and snatched vehicles with the arrests of several gangs, their success remained below the required level.
Business is booming
The off and on crackdowns launched against the gangs also failed to stop the car snatchers from halting their operations. The figures suggest their business has been thriving since 2003.
“As far as four-wheelers are concerned, a total of 15,243 vehicles were stolen or snatched at gunpoint from Jan, 2003, when the previous government took charge, to Nov, 2007, when the caretaker set-up came into being after the dissolution of the provincial assembly,” he added.
During the last five years, police sources said more than a dozen inter-provincial gangs of car snatchers emerged and operated aggressively mainly in Karachi.
They agreed with the notion that law-enforcers did not only fail to stop such operations, they also remained unable to curb the movement of snatched and stolen vehicles from the city to other provinces.
Motorcyclists remained the most targeted victims during the last few years.
More than 35,000 motorcycles were snatched and stolen from Jan, 2003, to Nov, 2007, with only a meagre number of culprits being arrested.
“The total number of bikes snatched and stolen touched the 35,476 mark during this period,” said the source.
“It’s a fact that the crackdown against such criminals was not as effective as against car snatchers. That’s why the average recovery of motorcycles is lower than other vehicles.”
The police authorities realized the street crime trend increased more than anticipated, but argued that they delivered their best in line with their capability and available resources.
“The major problem we faced during the last few years in addressing the street crimes issue is inadequacy of force available and the lack of technology,” said Niaz Siddiqi, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), who is currently holding the same office for the second time in five years.
He said such problems were addressed recently and the days ahead would bear fruit in terms of decline in street crime figures.
“But still, with the lower than required number of force and technological hurdles, we have produced good results and enhanced our reaction time,” added the police chief.
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