KARACHI, with its long history of crime, is well-acquainted with the menace. For some time now, it has witnessed unbridled street crime, robberies, narcotic-related offences and police encounters. Street criminals prey on people freely — outside banks, in traffic jams and markets, even killing citizens when they resist muggings.

Recently, President Asif Ali Zardari instructed the Sindh chief minister to initiate extensive action against street outlaws in the metropolis, drug traffickers, and bandits in the riverine areas of upper Sindh and southern Punjab with the cooperation of other provinces. Some crime control measures by the police were reported to him, such as the Shaheen Force revival, an overhauled Madadgar-15, e-tagging of repeat offenders, and the Sindh Smart Surveillance System project for 40 toll plazas fortified with facial recognition cameras. In addition, a list of minor gains by the police department was put forth in figures.

Out of the 103 kidnappings, 47 went unreported and the force recovered 104 people, while 19 were still missing; street crime cases declined from 252.32 per day in January to 166.2 daily incidents in April; and of the 48 incidents that took 49 lives, 27 were identified, resulting in 43 arrests and 13 police encounters — the last often having controversial implications. But the president’s intervention is shockingly delayed and the provincial government continues to treat a deep malaise with cosmetic touch-ups.

While the aforementioned actions rest on reacting to crime, comprehensive evaluation to identify causes, patterns and trouble spots define proactive policing. Thus, long-term socioeconomic and law-enforcement solutions necessitate multifaceted strategies: training, surveillance, problem-solving and collaborative attitudes among law enforcers.

Moreover, declaring war on the drug mafia often in cahoots with the police and political sanction in Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta and Sujawal is overdue. Katcha belt banditry, on the other end, is due to the state’s abandonment of an impoverished region and its unwillingness to plug feudal gains from arms smuggling, bhatta and other offences. Education, roads, employment and health facilities jeopardise powerful interests who force the poor to survive through illegal means.

Isolated firefighting is not a panacea. Safety and upliftment of urban, rural and katcha areas, a cleansed, bolstered security force and restored faith in the police is unachievable without political commitment and interprovincial support. Finally, rehabilitative methods, not violence, defeat crime.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2024