ISLAMABAD: The port city of Karachi has seen an “alarming increase” in street Crime rate following flash floods in parts of the country, Sindh Police officials said on Friday.
In a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Home Affairs, police officials said that half of the criminals caught by them belong to other parts of the country.
The meeting of the Senate body was chaired by Senator Mohsin Aziz.
Expressing concern over the sharp increase in street crimes in Karachi, the body directed the Sindh Police and other concerned departments to crack down on the criminal elements.
The overall law and order situation in Karachi and especially the performance of the Sindh Police in preventing street crimes including theft, robbery, kidnapping, murder and target killing were reviewed in detail.
Police officials told the committee that there has been an “extraordinary increase” in street crimes in the city after the recent floods, adding that police officers have been directed to register FIRs.
Sharing the data, he said that 42,669 crimes were reported in 2011, 39,694 in 2015, 61,244 in 2020 and 84,045 in 2021.
Moreover, 385 people were killed in 2018 and 393 in 2021 while 369 suspected killers were arrested till August 31, 2022.
In 2018, 2,211 vehicles were stolen, 26,846 vehicles were stolen, and 15,678 mobile phones were stolen.
In 2021, 4,783 vehicles were stolen, 49,608 vehicles were stolen and 25,000 mobile phones were stolen.
The Sindh Police told the senators that there has been a rapid increase in street crime incidents in Karachi in recent days and they are trying to prevent street crime incidents.
The Senate Committee was told that the cases of theft of mobile phones, motorcycles and wallets are less than last year, most of the cases are not registered.
Standing Committee Member Senator Fawzia Arshad said that a large number of street crimes were reported in the media and expressed reservations over the crime statistics given to the committee.
He said that the reality is something else.
Senator Samina Mumtaz Zahri said that the police department did not even register an FIR when the phone of her acquaintance was stolen in Karachi.
He further said that it has also been heard that the women of the flood victims were raped and children were also abducted on the pretext of providing aid.
Sindh Police officials told the committee that the rate of rape incidents is very low in Sindh and Balochistan, except in the Machhar Colony area of ​​Karachi, where many cases of rape have been reported.
In response to a question from the chairman of the committee, Aziz, Sindh police officials believe that people from Afghanistan were involved in the sale of drugs.
“Not all Afghan refugees are registered and steps are being taken to register and repatriate them,” he told the committee.
