KARACHI: Seeking recruitment of Karachiites in police force, the Jamaat-i-Islami on Thursday warned that the ‘failure’ of the Pakistan Peoples Party government in controlling street crimes in the metropolis could force the citizens to ‘take the matter into their own hands’.

“People can get arms licences, erect barriers in their streets and set up committees at mohalla level to fight the menace on their own,” JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman said.

Speaking to reporters after attending the funeral prayers of Syed Hamid Ali, a senior party worker who was killed by armed bandits in North Karachi on Wednesday for resisting the mugging attempt, he also made it clear that his party would stand by the people of the city whenever such a consensus emerged and would lead Karachiites from the front for their safety.

He went a step further and warned that in such an emerging situation, the party and the people won’t oblige the law-enforcement agencies if they objected to the measures adopted by citizens for their own safety against street crimes.

Attends funeral prayers for Hamid, who was killed by bandits in North Karachi

“Now these cosmetic measures [suspension of SHOs over street crime complaints] won’t work,” said Hafiz Naeem.

“Don’t push the people to that extent that they take up the matter in their own hands. If you [Sindh government and police authorities] can’t do your job, then let us do ours. Let the people put barriers in their streets and get arms licences. We would be among the people to set up committees. And then the police and Rangers won’t have any right to raise objections to the people’s moves.”

Number of Karachiites in police force

He raised the issue of number of Karachiites in the city police force and demanded the management control of the key law-enforcement department under the local bodies system which could allow the grass-root representatives of the people to keep a check on performance of such personnel and question them in case of any failure.

“Now the people would have to take to the street,” he said. “After Eid we will launch a strong movement against street crimes in Karachi. We will stage sit-ins outside CM House after Eid. If people of Karachi are not safe in their homes, streets and markets, then how can our rulers feel safe in their palaces or forts like homes? We would not let this to happen. We would make them realise what insecurity actually means to common Karachiites.”

He said the PPP government had put people on the mercy of armed robbers as the growing crime rate in the city reflected a total failure and patronage of crime on part of the government, the police and other law-enforcement agencies.

“As many as 14 innocent Karachiites have lost their lives for offering resistance against robbers in Ramzan alone, while the police high-ups instead of curbing crimes advise citizens not to resist against criminals,” he said.

“There’s no law and order in Karachi and the police authorities are busy in either protocol or VIP security. The PPP has lost every moral ground to continue its rule in Sindh whereas in rural areas armed gangs of bandits have become a symbol of terror and in urban areas people are losing lives only for resisting armed robberies.”

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2024