KARACHI: Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon on Tuesday said that the law and order situation in the province had improved significantly and efforts were underway to control street crime in Karachi.

Addressing a press conference, he said street crime in the city was increased during the caretaker government, but the situation was being improved due to the effective measures taken by the Sindh government.

He said that street crime was a global issue.

“According to the International Crime Index, Karachi ranks 78th out of 333 cities in various countries,” he said, adding that the situation of street crime in the US cities such as Oakland, New Orleans, Chicago, Phila­delp­­hia, Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco, and Washington was worse than that in Karachi.

He said that the street crime situation in Paris was worse than in Karachi as per the International Crime Index.

To a question, he said that illegal immigrants in the province posed a significant and long-standing challenge as some of them were found involved in various incidents. “The government is earnestly working to address this issue,” he said, adding that the provincial government had demonstrated a strong commitment to maintaining law and order.

Mr Memon, who holds portfolios of information, transport, and excise, taxation and narcotics control ministries, also highlighted the pervasive drug problem in Pakistan, emphasising the dangers of synthetic substances like crystal and ice which impaired cognitive function.

He noted that even parents had fallen victim to the influence of those drugs.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2024