WE all have been lamenting the recent spike in street crimes in Karachi during which the criminals not only deprive their victims of their hard-earned money, mobile phones and valuables, they are also involved in killing or injuring them while using firearms.

The recent ban imposed by the Sindh government on carrying licensed weapons by the citizens of Karachi will further put the lives and property of the people at risk. This will deprive the citizens of having the right to defend themselves, putting them at the mercy of the dangerous criminals who are always out there lurking behind every soft target.

During these chaotic times when street crimes and targeted killings are on the rise and when the law-enforcement agencies have completely failed to provide protection to the common man, such measures will create a sense of insecurity among the masses.

We can see the benefits of being armed with a licensed weapon by considering the report “Armed citizen kills two ‘muggers’ in Gulshan” (Feb 22) wherein an armed individual who was being robbed by two criminals shot both of them, and the police also recovered looted cellphones from their possession. One of them even had criminal record with the law-enforcers.

Had the citizen been unarmed, not only he would have been looted, the criminals might have shot him even for showing displeasure, leave alone offering resistance.

Is it not quite strange that while the authorities concerned are least bothered about controlling street crimes, or seem ‘helpless’ against the crooks in the streets having illegal, unlicensed weapons to loot and kill people, law-abiding, taxpaying citizens with licensed weapons are not allowed to even defend themselves?

I would suggest that the ruling elite, regardless of the political divide and including the provincial police chief, should give up their security protocols, move around the city like the common man does, and face the same security threat that their voters and taxpayers face every day. Only then there is a chance that they might understand the plight of the common man and would subsequently avoid making rules that are ridiculous and unnecessary as well as anti-people and criminal-friendly.

Arsalan Faruqi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2023