KARACHI: The city police booked and arrested around 100 people in just two days for violating the pillion-riding ban — the restriction that directly affects about 1.7 million people daily — but it failed to prove its effectives in curbing the incidents of targeted killings.

Figures released by the Central Police Office on Friday evening stated that total 212 suspects were arrested between Thursday 12 noon and Friday 12 noon for their alleged involvement in different crimes ranging from dacoity to murder.

Of them, 80 people were booked and arrested for violating a ban on pillion-riding and had no previous criminal record.

A police spokesman replied in the affirmative when he was asked about the possibility of an increase in the number of arrests for defying the pillion-riding ban by Friday night.

He said that the riders arrested for violating the ban were booked under Section 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant).

He said that the pillion-riding ban violators were produced before the magistrate concerned who released them after imposing a minor fine or sometime without any fine.

He agreed that these people had to spend at least one night in the police lock-up before being produced in court the next day.

When asked about the effectiveness of the ban, he said it was imposed in view of the fact that most of the killings were carried out by the pillion riders. The deadly trend convinced the authorities to impose the ban temporarily to keep check on the killers, he added.

“Every time the pillion-riding ban is imposed it proved effective. There has always been a positive impact on the crime trend mainly on the killings,” said the Karachi police spokesman.

The Karachi police assessment has yet to meet reality checks. Hours after the pillion-riding was banned by the Sindh government on Thursday, a 30-year-old man, said to be associated with the minority wing of a political party, was shot dead in Orangi Town by armed motorcyclists.

A few hours later, a shopkeeper was targeted by armed riders in a suspected sectarian attack in Sector 11 ½ of the same town. The ban came under further question when after the sunset a 40-year-old health practitioner was targeted by armed men on a motorbike in Korangi.

Rights activists see the pillion-riding ban against the basic civil rights of a common man.

“An estimate suggests that some 1.7 million Karachiites are suffering on a daily basis due to the restriction,” said a member of the Human Rights Network, which once challenged the ban in the Sindh High Court. “The city where an effective transport system is not in place and growing inflation affects every family budget with each passing day, the ban is tantamount to punishing nearly hundreds of thousands of citizens who can save their transport fare, availing themselves of the pillion-riding facility. Most importantly, we can afford and accept the ban as the cost of peace and security. But is it assured after the ban? Never, I believe.”

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2014