THE silvery sands of the Clifton beach, now touching the city of Karachi, get a bit noisy and crowded for the folks who prefer a little peace and quiet. To beat the sweltering summer heat the people of this power-starved city head for the white sands of Sands Pit, the beautiful beach of Hawks Bay, the rocky shores of Baleji, the well-planned and peaceful French Beach, the landscape beauty of Paradise Point and further, to spend a little relaxed time with their family and friends, some of them having come from overseas to visit their families, on a picnic, party or retreat.

On their way to or while on their way back from these lovely beaches which were once crowded with locals, foreigners and tourists in the 1970s and 1980s, now are sadly visited by Karachiites only.

Loads of people have been held up at gun-point, are mugged for whatever valuables they are carrying, verbally abused and threatened by dacoits, thugs, highway robbers or whatever you may call them.

This is not only disturbing to victims, but carries a long-time scar mentally and psychologically, and discourages citizens from visiting these places, spreading terror and further damaging the image of Pakistan internationally.

I have visited many beaches abroad, where they have a police force that deals with these holiday resorts only. Cannot our local administration do something to avoid these nasty incidents? We have community wardens helping all over the city with traffic and civil defence, doing a superb job. Police checkpoints in that area are at the wrong place, they need to patrol the deserted parts of the road leading to Hawks Bay, with regular spot checking. The Coast Guard should set up an aerial surveillance unit with a couple of helicopters, to track these culprits and monitor sea rescue work with lifeguards.

I am sure before it gets out of hand, the local administration will look into this menace and save our beaches and citizens.

KEVIN NAZARETH Karachi