New police force announced in city as robbers kill eight citizens in four days

In a bid to combat rising street crime, Karachi’s additional inspector general of police has announced the launch of a ‘Shaheen Force’ as the city faces an alarming increase in the menace of street crime, with eight citizens falling prey to the bullets of muggers in the first four days of September.

Three station house officers (SHOs) have been suspended in District Korangi over their alleged failure to control street crime. The decision to launch a new police force was taken at a meeting on Monday. Karachi police chief Jawed Alam Odho said the Shaheen Force would comprise around 200 cops, including the sharp shooters.

The force will have the exclusive duty of preventing street crime and its members will be deployed on the streets of Karachi within a couple of days. They will be equipped with modern weapons and radios to immediately respond to situations. The Shaheen Force cops will chase muggers and fight them.

In the first four days of the current month, eight citizens have been killed, but law enforcers have failed to arrest the culprits. A religious cleric and another citizen were shot dead by robbers in Korangi, teenage factory worker Talha was gunned down in Korangi Industrial Area, and Zeeshan, who had returned to Pakistan after completing eduction abroad, was killed in Gulistan-e-Jauhar in front of his wife and children. Three persons -- Zeeshan, Usman and Abdul Haseeb were killed in Orangi Town. Another citizen, Tayyab, was shot dead in Liaquatabad.

Following these incidents, Zaman Town SHO Inspector Humayun, Korangi SHO Sub-Inspector Sohail Khaskheli and Awami Colony SHO SI Farooq Sanjrani were suspended over their failure to control street crime in District Korangi.

Despite tall claims made by police high-ups about the restoration of law and order in Karachi, the city continues to be a haven for criminals who on daily basis kill and wound its residents and deprive them of their hard-earned money as well as cars, motorcycles and mobile phones on the streets and roads and even at their doorsteps.

The ground reality contradicts the government’s claim that it has controlled the street crime. In just six months in the ongoing year, 50 innocent people fell prey to street criminals, who also wounded over 350 others.

Those who were murdered included a journalist, a Hafiz-e-Quran, a newly wed man and a member of the Hindu community. A significant number of the victims were youths, who could not control themselves during mobile phone-snatching bids and put up resistance, only to be shot in return.

Beside scores of deaths and injuries, residents of the city were also deprived of their valuables worth Rs1.6 billion in the first six months of 2022. According to the data compiled with the help of newspaper stories, a total of 42,769 incidents of street crime occurred in the city between January and June this year.

JI warns of protests

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chief, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, has warned that the party would assemble masses for protests in front of police stations if the government and the police department failed to put an end to increasing number of mugging incidents and robberies.

In a statement issued on Monday, he condemned the Sindh government over rampant street crimes in the city, saying that eight innocent lives were lost to muggers in just four days. The worst law and order situation in the city was a big question mark over the performance of the police, Rangers and on top of everyone, the Sindh government, he remarked. Rehman said that it seemed that the entire police department had been deputed for the protection duty of politicians and other high-ups.