A lonely ride

The Sindh government has found a novel way to curb rising street crimes and targeted killings in Karachi in the form of imposing a ban on pillion riding. This restriction has been imposed time and again in order to improve the law and order situation but the state of affairs in Karachi has gone from bad to worse. People are still being mugged and killed despite the ban. It is true that the majority of street crimes and target killings are perpetrated by men riding motorcycles but the ban is not the right solution to these problems. The ban is against the basic human rights as it overlooks the major inconvenience caused to a sizeable chunk of the population who use motorcycles.
Foisting such a decision on the people has left them at the mercy of the transport mafia. Also, policemen are seen fleecing people on the pretext of upholding the ban rather than doing their duty and keeping an eye on criminals. So it seems that the beneficiaries of this ban are none other than the police and transport mafia. The authorities should be asked why ordinary people are being punished for a problem that should be resolved by better policing and law enforcement. Let the government not punish those who share rides out of necessity just because it is unable to nab the real culprits through enforcement of the law.
Muhammad Zafir Zia
Karachi