KARACHI, June 23: Karachi's oldest settlement, Lyari, is in the grip of a social crisis and there seems to be no solution to the multifarious problems being faced by the common man, in the immediate future.
Frequent incidents of shootouts between rival gangs, unemployment, severe water shortage, drug related crime and dacoities, mostly unreported in the press, have remained unaddressed over the past three decades.
It is evident that the crime situation has been deteriorating day by day and the law enforcement agencies seem absolutely incapable of stopping a gang war between two rival groups which has so far claimed many lives in the locality.
On Wednesday morning, Babu notoriously known as Babu dakait along with two others were shot dead in broad daylight. However, NGO representatives pointed the inefficiency of law- enforcement agencies as the prime cause of these growing incidents of violence.
"The irony is that political forces have also kept themselves aloof and silent, adopting an indifferent attitude towards "a serious situation" which has perturbed every resident", a political activist said.
According to him, because of their gun power, the criminal elements have turned some of the localities into a safe haven for their anti-social activities and have made peaceful people their hostage.
When interviewed by DAWN, ordinary people in Chawkiwara, Rangiwara, Singulane, Kalri (Ali Mohammad Mohalla), Baghdadi, Nawa Lane, Kalakot, Rexer Lane, Nawabad, Darayabad, which elected current PPP MNA and two MPAs, besides Town Nazims and UC Nazims, blame the leadership for their multiplying problems.
A resident complaining to Dawn said that "our representatives have left us after getting the vote", adding, only those who are the beneficiaries of the party's previous governments are participating in the party's activities.
Although the survey indicated that most people still support the PPP, there are others who are starting to look for alternatives as was evident in the last two general elections. Pointing to mounting problems of Lyari, associated with drug-related crime, Lyari NGOs blamed the local leadership for its failure to redress people's grievances.
In an environment of rampant unemployment, where narco- terrorists are openly "using unemployed youths" for carrying out their drug business, it is the responsibility of the political leadership to save the younger generation by engaging them in constructive political activity, they further said.
They also deplored that teachers of government schools are absenting themselves from teaching and wandering students had became fair game for the drug mafia. At Karabai Karimji Road (Nawabad), swarming with people, residents pointed to children wandering on the streets without playgrounds and recreation facilities.
For the past few months, more than 50 people, mostly youths, have been killed in shoot-out incidents that either took place between two gangs or in other violent incidents.
Exchange of fire has now become a routine affair. The residents of some of the localities, being terror-stricken, prefer to stay at home after sunset. Going to workplaces and returning home has become the only outing for people, who are mainly manual workers, shopkeepers and employees in government and semi-government organizations.
People are so panic stricken that they do not dare to take the risk of talking about it. A senior social worker of the locality who talked to this correspondent on condition of anonymity said: "People have lost faith in everything.
They are fully convinced that they can not challenge the power of armed gangsters." A resident complained that problems were mounting because of population explosion and the old system of delivery of civic services had collapsed.
Some diehard PPP activists agreed that people had grown " disheartened because of increasing problems and acknowledged a growing helplessness in solving acute civic problems and escalating crime.
It has been observed that Lyari's broken down and unlit roads, overflowing gutters, unauthorized apartment complexes, unemployed youth, sprawling rubbish bins, crowded and pollution filled environment provides the ideal background for drug addicts who dwell on the sidewalks to escape the hard and harsh realities of life and it is for these reasons many youths have turned towards dacoity.
With political and social groups pointing out that "police are patronising the drug mafia", the situation demands that the political and social leadership of the locality should fulfil their responsibility and they should not remain a silent spectator.
In some of the localities, the residents acknowledge that they can no longer move out after 9pm because of increasing incidents of shootouts. In view of growing incidents of lawlessness in different of the Town, residents have urged the authorities to set up permanent police posts in sensitive areas.
