Karachi:

Most people in Karachi city of Pakistan’s Sindh province feel unsafe as the metropolitan city reported about 45,000 incidents of street crimes and mugging in the first eight months of 2024, the police said on Monday.

Last year, 118 people were killed in street crimes and mugging incidents while this year the figure is close to 100, the Police Citizens Liaison Committee said.

Most people in Karachi feel unsafe as the rate of violent crime has soared in the metropolitan city of nearly 20 million population, said Bashir Babu, a factory worker who has been a mugging victim twice.

“Criminals are operating brazenly during daytime or night and one doesn’t feel safe going out as the fear of mugging hangs over you,” claimed Babu.

The spread of social media has only added to the environment of anxiety and fear in the city as every day new videos are uploaded showing criminals snatching valuables in broad daylight on busy streets, at restaurants, at traffic lights, outside ATMs, at barbershops, even at mosques.

In such an environment, the people of Karachi are now faced with a new crime menace, the “Auto-Rickshaw gang”.

“Auto-rickshaws remain an affordable and main mode of public transport for many people but in recent days there have been several cases of passengers, including ladies, being robbed of their valuables and belongings while using these rickshaws,” police officer Abid Fazal said.

Fazal said they investigated cases where some criminal gangs were linked up with some auto-rickshaw drivers and teamed up to rob passengers.

“The modus operandi is the driver after carefully studying his passengers makes a call on whether they have cash and valuables with them,” he said.

Fazal said the driver then uses his phone to either text the drop-off location or give the impression to the unsuspecting passenger he is talking to his family and lays out all the details of where he is.

Sumayya Firdous, a bank teller who was robbed of all her belongings just the other day while returning home, reported to the police that she never suspected the driver was informing his gang about where she was headed.

“As soon as we neared my drop-off location, two people on motorbikes with guns told the driver to stop the rickshaw to the side and one of them came in and sat with me and calmly took everything. I never suspected the driver was involved until the public had gathered there and stopped the driver from leaving. A police mobile, which arrived later, checked his phone,” she recalled.

No wonder ineffective policing, growing corruption in police ranks, and general apathy from government and police officials in response to complaints about the law and order situation in Karachi has led citizens to now resort to mob justice, she said.

On Saturday, one robber was lynched and killed in the densely populated Federal B area after he and two others tried to rob a house.

Two of the robbers managed to escape with their lives.

There have been other incidents of vigilante justice where people have used firearms to kill robbers or beat them to death if any of them are caught.

This month itself there have been at least four recorded incidents of mob justice by people enraged by robberies.

In one incident, people chased down two fleeing men, killing one and injuring the other, before police rescued them.

Dr Humaira Yousuf, an expert on crime and violence who works for a Karachi-based Centre for Research and Security, said mob justice was a worrying trend in Karachi.

“People are frustrated when public trust in the law enforcement agencies is low.”

This year, dozens of police officers and constables have been fired or suspended after being implicated with criminal gangs involved in street crime.
 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

A Pakistani guard shot and wounded two Chinese nationals working in a textile mill in the southern port city of Karachi on Tuesday, but authorities said the attack was not related to militant violence.

China has frequently demanded better security for its nationals working in Pakistan. Last month, two Chinese were killed in a suicide car bombing outside the Karachi airport.

Thousands of Chinese are in Pakistan to work for Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which is building major infrastructure projects. An unknown number of Chinese are also working at factories in the country.

Suhail Jokhoio, the spokesperson for the provincial home department, said the guard involved in the textile mill attack was arrested and police are still investigating to determine why the man to opened fire.

He said the wounded Chinese were taken to a hospital.

Pakistan has said it is committed to providing full security to Chinese working in the country.

Pakistan lifts the ICC Champions Trophy after beating India in the finals in London on June 18, 2017.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Pakistan Cricket Board has earmarked Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi as venues for next year’s Champions Trophy, continuing to insist that the tournament will stay in the country despite speculation of a ‘hybrid model’ being under consideration to ensure India’s participation.

The Champions Trophy, which was last held in England in 2017, is expected to be held tentatively in February-March next year.

India have not yet confirmed participation and there is speculation that the ICC could use the ‘Hybrid Model’ and hold the country’s matches at a neutral venue if the team does not get government clearance to travel. The ICC has already made it clear that it will not ask any member nation to defy government policy.

“We’ve sent the schedule for the matches in Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi said at a press conference in Lahore.

“The ICC’s security team came and we had a very good meeting. They looked at arrangements here and we’ll also share stadium upgrade plans with them.

“We are trying to ensure we host a very good tournament in Pakistan,” Naqvi informed.

The PCB has been steadfast in insisting that the tournament will not be altered in any way to accommodate India.

The ‘Hybrid Model’ of hosting was used in the Asia Cup last year. The Asian Cricket Council, headed by BCCI secretary Jay Shah, held India’s matches in Sri Lanka even though Pakistan was the official host of the tournament.

Naqvi also conceded that condition of all three proposed venues is currently sub-standard in terms of hosting international games of cricket.

“If you look at Gaddafi (here), it is good but the viewing experience is not great for cricket. Football maybe, not cricket,” Naqvi said.

“We need to improve facilities in the stadiums, where there are some old problems. Karachi is in bad shape. So on May 7, we will finalise bids from international companies who will come and help us design.

“We are already late but we need to do these upgrades in four-five months. It will be a very tough test but we can do it.,” Naqvi concluded.