Law and order in Karachi better than what it was decade ago, says home minister

Despite the fact that over 40 persons died at the hands of muggers in Karachi in the first three months of 2024, Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar on Sunday said the law and order situation in Karachi was currently much better than what it used to be in the period between 2008 and 2013.

He was addressing a press conference along with Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani at the media cell of the Bilawal House. Lanjar spoke on both the street crime in Karachi as well as the bandits in the riverine belt. He maintained that as far as heinous crimes were concerned, the law and order situation in many districts of the province such as Sukkur and Ghotki was not as bad as it was being presented.

He said that although street crime was an issue in Karachi, the dreadful incidents of dead bodies found stuffed in gunny bags had come to an end in Karachi. He said hype had been created over the issue of street crime in the provincial capital.

He said the newly posted Sindh inspector general of police would soon formally launch an operation against bandits in the riverine belt of the province.

He said the provincial government would do its best to prevent the instances of street crimes in Karachi in the shortest possible time. He assured the people of Sindh that the law and order situation would be normalised very soon.

Lanjar said that police would be held accountable for crime incidents in the province, and dacoits in Sindh would be dealt with an iron fist.

He also asked the media to boost the morale of police. To a question, the home minister said he enjoyed the fullest support of the Sindh chief minister to discharge his ministerial duties.

To another question, he said the judges should have the capacity to withstand undue pressure applied to them. He regretted that judges in the past had connived in perpetrating unlawful acts in the country.

Aseefa’s victory

Ghani said opponents of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had been unduly attempting to render controversial the recent unopposed poll victory of Aseefa Bhutto Zardari from the National Assembly constituency of Nawabshah that was vacated by President Asif Ali Zardari after he was elected as the president.

He stressed that the PPP had emerged victorious from the electoral constituency in question in the last three elections.

Ghani greeted Aseefa on her unopposed victory in the by-election. He said the entry of Benazir Bhutto’s daughter in the house of the National Assembly would be a momentous occasion.

He told media persons that President Zardari had bagged over 100,000 votes in the February 8 general elections from the same Nawabshah’s National Assembly constituency.

He explained that initially there were a total of 11 contestants aspiring to contest the by-election from the same constituency against Aseefa. He informed journalists that one of the prospective candidates, whose withdrawal from the electoral race was unduly being rendered controversial, had planned to contest the by-election independently but his nomination papers were rejected on account of non-payment of the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company’s electricity bills amounting to Rs410,000.

Later on, an election tribunal permitted him to contest the by-election after payment of the electricity bill, Ghani said.

He added that the aspiring candidate in question had known very well that he would face a crushing defeat in the by-election. He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had been in the habit of unduly rendering such affairs controversial. “Why we would ever resort to such unfair means in the elections in a constituency where our electoral success is guaranteed.”