Kidnapping is more like amputation than injury. There are never any indications of recovery, whereas a wound is a bit of hard luck, gradual recovery and perhaps, some time out. But for those held hostage to absolute uncertainty, a bloody incident may have bloodier consequences.

This year, the cases of kidnapping for ransom in Karachi stand at a staggering 51 as opposed to the last year’s 29. According to police officials, 50 victims have returned home. Whereas a large majority bought their freedom, a few were rescued by police. Officials claim that 31 of these incidents were not carried out by professional crime syndicates and that culprits have been booked in 26 cases.

Observers say that the crime rate in the metropolis continues to climb despite the new police wing called ‘mohafiz’. However, DIG (Investigations) Manzoor Mughal believes that the force has brought much relief to citizens. On the other hand, sources in the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) maintain that the new corps is the same uneducated force with a different name and uniform. “Why have we forgotten the Eagle Squad and Madadgar 15? They failed to influence the crime rate,” he said.

Despite the discrepancies in records with the police, the CPLC and various NGOs, senior police officials concede that kidnappings have emerged as a highly profitable business and are conducted either by professional gangs or by poor, unemployed youths out to make a desperate quick buck. “This is primarily driven by economic concerns. There is hopeless poverty and unemployment and that compel people to commit these crimes. Most of the kidnappings are carried out by the poor or rural classes,” explained CPLC chief Sharfuddin Memon.

Today, with 28 cases being registered in the first half of this year, kidnapping for ransom is indeed nothing short of an industry. Some also blame the rampant habit of computers that, in a poor society such as ours, has engulfed jobs all along the line forcing disconsolate youths to resort to new livelihoods such as kidnapping or extortion. A few rushed phone calls, emails or letters and they make a killing… or a fortune, depending on how you see it.

However, the general distrust in law enforcement agencies has also given way to a sense of immunity to crime and punishment, which sets the stage for such offences. And only an adequately-trained police force armed with modern tracking technology and amply compensated by the state so it is not tempted to become party to crime, can provide a way out.

But sympathy cannot be prescribed to either the anxious or the misdirected as the damage of kidnapping extends beyond individual human crisis. The eagerness of families to pay ransom contributes to turning this business of hostage taking into a trade as every imbursement puts another citizen at risk. Institutions such as the CPLC, NGOs and the police have to join forces to help families withstand threats and blackmail as only collective efforts can work for both the individual as well as society. After all, where dozens of victims of road rage go down as mere accidents, the resolution to high hostage drama is seen as stuff of human triumph with many contenders for its glory.

TRAFFIC rules and laws are violated by all in our society but the public transport operators beat all competitors in the sport. How else will you describe the mad race to get ahead of everyone else seen on our roads?

And everybody would agree that nobody is in greater hurry on our roads than the drivers of public transport. It is immaterial whether he is driving a rickety, but packed, Suzuki commuter van, an even more packed and huffing and puffing Hiace wagon or a 60- seat bus roaring down a country road.

They are in the mad rush to chase money. After all money makes the mare go.

Vans, or wagons, carrying passengers within and between the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad violate not just the traffic rules but also their contracts with the transport authorities. They don’t keep schedules, overload their vehicles, abandon assigned routes midway and take a U-turn, all to maximise their profits.

They may be the worst violators but by no means the only ones. Other road users are found guilty of the same vices, even if to a lower extent. What one can say about pedestrians darting across the roads during heavy rush hours? Or a whole family of 5+ perched precariously on a motorcycle and weaving to reach to the head of the heavy traffic?

Cars driving the VIPs are a class in themselves. Their speeding cars and motorcades — in fact any vehicle bearing a green licence plate — come second in scaring the ordinary commuters on the roads. What is worse the VIP culture is a bad influence. Those aspiring to join the club and driving a bigger, or a newer car zoom past you as if sneering at your ‘low-grade car and correct manners’.

Non implementation of traffic rules by the traffic police with critical aspects like rampant corruption backed by the vile of pecuniary frustration are deemed to be the root causes of almost all the violations by the passenger vehicles, which have become a routine.

Majority of the traffic law violators are mostly uneducated drivers and have no idea of traffic rules. Their main objective is to earn more and deliver less.

This is mainly because of two reasons: issuance of route permit and licence to a driver without assessing his knowledge of a route, laws and driving skills, rather it requires acquaintance with the RTA and traffic police officials and guts to bribe.

The second reason of the traffic laws violation is the indifferent attitude of transport authorities and traffic police.

They seem to be least concerned to traffic violations such as rash driving, crossing of the speed limits, lane violations, jumping red lights, embarking and disembarking passengers on main roads even on signals.

The traffic police work in three shifts and in one shift a group of 150 personnel are deployed on the roads to check violations and ensure the smooth flow of traffic that even only during rush hour.

Even in the rush hours a lone policeman is seen trying desperately to control the mayhem.

The passengers are at the mercy of the conductors. Before boarding a vehicle the conductors first ask the passengers’ destination. Only those passengers are allowed to board a van whose destination is short. Those who have to travel to a longer destination are refused.

The passenger vehicles are also violating the stop rules, they embark the passengers at any point of a road, even from signals while the police personnel look the other way.

Zebra crossing is also ignored by the drivers. They are also seen using mobile phones while driving which also cause accidents.