KARACHI, Dec 7: With Eid coming close, police have speeded up their extortion activities in the city.

Their easy targets are motorcyclists, who are being seen on the roads dealing with police to get themselves freed from the clutches of policemen.

Police are also extorting money from people who have set up temporary stalls at various Eid Bazaars. These people are finding it difficult to give bribe to police from their meagre earnings.

“We have beefed up security and deployed police on various roads and streets to curb the activities of anti-social elements and theft of vehicles in Ramazan,” said a senior police official.

However, policemen, deployed on roads, are being seen more interested in harassing innocent people on the pretext of checking the papers of their vehicles. Motorcyclists are the most vulnerable targets of police. It has been witnessed at various roundabouts and roads that police stop motorcyclists to check their papers and they are not allowed to go until they allegedly grease the palms of policemen.

Policemen stop motorcyclists and ask them to show their driving licences and other papers. Police do not have powers to fine violators, but they harass motorcyclists to force to pay money to them.

The other chief targets of policemen are people returning to their homes after shopping.

A young man, Saleem Aftab, aged 26, was returning home, with his friend Amir, at midnight on Thursday, when policemen stopped them at the Teen Hatti bridge. He was driving the motorcycle of his brother. As usual the policemen demanded to see his papers, and he showed the papers to them. But the policemen with a view to harassing him told him that he had stolen the motorcycle. He tried to convince the policemen, but they kept on harassing him. He was later allowed to go home when he gave the policemen Rs150.

Tayyab, a resident of Korangi, said he was stopped by police in Qayyumabad. He had his driving licence and other papers of the motorcycle in the name of his father.

He said: “Policemen told me that I was driving a stolen motorcycle, and they threatened to impound the motorcycle and to arrest me. They demanded Rs200 to let me off. I had Rs50 with me which they grabbed, and let go of me.”

It has often been witnessed that three or four policemen surround a motorcyclist and ask him a number of questions to make him confused so that he could make a mistake and the policemen could have a chance to extort from him.

Police have also speeded up extortion from squatter vendors and people who have set up stalls at various Eid bachat bazaars.

A young man, who has set up a stall in Nazimabad, said police had told him and others, who had set up stalls, that they would have to give police a considerable share in their earnings, otherwise the stalls would be removed.

A number of people expressed the opinion that police were deployed to harass the innocent people rather than to provide them security. Considering this situation, it would be unwise to expect help from police, they said.