A minor blast occurred at Chowk, Ichra, late last Thursday night, shaking the entire neighbourhood on Ferozepur Road. According to the police, the explosion that left at least 12 people injured had been carried out "possibly" through a time device.

A shopkeeper named Momin Khan says he was receiving death threats after he resisted paying rupees two million as extortion money. Later, the extortionists fired at his house and also bullied him.

"I informed the police about it but they could do nothing to protect me," he tells TNS.

The blast destroyed his entire shop, at the foot of the road, where he sold motorcycles on instalments. It also affected the adjacent shops.

The city police investigators, asking not to be named, say giving bikes on mark-up through instalments could be the reason for the attack. Khan, on the other hand, blames it on the extortionists "[that] belong to a hardliner Islamic group."

The law and order situation in the provincial metropolis, with spurious claims of ‘exemplary’ rule by the sitting chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, is turning from bad to worse. In a recent meeting by the law enforcement authorities, it was disclosed that the crime rate of the city had increased by three times in the first three months of 2014, compared to last year.

Spike in the number of incidents of mugging and extortion are posing a serious threat to the people of the metropolitan that boasts a population of over 10 million and around 25,000 police force.

According to a senior police official, the force includes all kinds of staff. The cops in the field are limited in number and these days many of them or on a special duty to guard the rulers, their families and the VIPs including senior police officers and those who are under various kind of threats in the growing militant environment of the country. Mostly, the incidents of extortion are linked to the militant and extremist outfits affiliated with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

In another incident in the city, a few weeks ago, a gang of armed men from a religious extremist organisation started demanding extortion money from a Christian native of Shad Bagh area who owned a small shoe factory. When he refused, the men threw hand grenades outside his business unit, destroying it completely.

"I’d suggest you leave this topic," the concerned police investigator says, when asked to furnish details.

Ch. Shafique Ahmed, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), in a recent circular, directed all divisional superintendents of police (SPs) to identify crime-prone areas in their respective jurisdictions and immediately enhance patrolling in the pockets in order to control the rising incidents of street crime.

He also directed the cops in-charge of different areas to prepare lists of personalities who could potentially fall prey to the target killers and provide them with foolproof security.

Over the first three months of 2014, the police, as per the official figures, has arrested over 700 robbers and dacoits of 395 gangs and recovered stolen property and illegal weapons amounting to Rs650 million from them.

A few days ago, Nadeem Shahzad, a shopkeeper in Muslim Town who was on a bike with his two children, pulled to a bylane in order to avoid the traffic jam on the main road, only to be looted.

The incident happened despite the presence of a large number of police personnel in the area. Shahzad was waylaid by two armed bikers who threatened him by aiming at his children. Ironically, the large mansion of Liaqat Baloch, a senior leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, was only a few steps away.

The local police lodged a complaint after the lapse of a few days, clearly to hush up the victim who was forced to seek the help of a higher official.

At the time of the filing of this story, none of his belonging had been recovered.

"Incidents of mugging are on the rise in the city. It’s a ‘crime of opportunity’ and, with limited field staff, difficult to cope with," says a police official.

"Mugging is also linked to the criminal justice system of the country."

The official says often they arrest the gangs but the latter are released in no time after getting bail from the courts. Their offence is cognisable but the crime is easily bailable. Even the conviction rate is very low.

"What can you do in this situation?" he asks. "At present, America has the highest incarceration ratio in the world and the country has doubled or even tripled the sentence of most such offences."

In Pakistan, even the political authorities ask the police to keep their eyes closed on the serious law and order issues only because the rulers are also under threat from the same extremist and militant elements.

The incidents of kidnapping (also for ransom), mugging, robbery, extortion money, theft, fraud and illegal confinement by police themselves are on the rise.