Robbery, murder and mob justice: Violent crime returns to Karachi

The horrifying stories were spread across local newspapers and recounted in silence at tea shops and bus stops: another day, another brutal death in an armed robbery in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city.

Last Wednesday, an auto mechanic was shot dead by robbers who tried to steal his phone. The previous day, robbers in two separate incidents killed a used shoe seller who refused to hand over his phone and a businessman who had just withdrawn cash from the bank. A few days earlier, robbers murdered a 27-year-old mechanical engineer, stole his phone, cash and motorbike.

Across Karachi, Pakistan’s economic powerhouse, violent crime rates have skyrocketed. That creates the feeling that no place is safe in this metropolis of 20 million people and makes many people worry that the city is returning to its violent, chaotic past. The country’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, has called for a “massive campaign” against street crime.

Shamim Ali, 43, a factory worker, said: “The fear of being robbed always sticks with you every time you step out.” “Criminals operate brazenly in broad daylight.”

According to the government-backed Citizen-Police Liaison Committee, the number of reported murders, extortion and motorbike thefts has nearly doubled this year compared to the same period last year. Police records show that at least 58 people were killed in looting incidents in the first five months of 2024, nearly double the number in the same period in 2023. Human rights activists say the actual number of Violent crime may be even higher because many victims are hesitant to report incidents.

Experts and police officials say the main cause of the crime surge is Pakistan’s economic slowdown, its worst in decades, with soaring debt and a growing trade deficit. record growth and inflation. Another factor is record floods in 2022 and other natural disasters that have sent tens of thousands of farmers to cities in search of work. Very few people have found it.

Activists say a sense of desperation among the city’s poorest has deepened as the collapsing economy and growing population have strained the already limited capacity of local authorities to provide basic services such as water and sanitation.

Qazi Khizer, vice-chairman of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said the rise in crime was the result of “systemic injustices and lack of state accountability”. “Decades of municipal neglect have created a pressure cooker ready to explode,” he added.

Police officials say desperation has breathed new life into the city’s criminal gangs, which have found recruits among the growing number of young people. Raja Umar Khattab, a senior official of the Karachi police’s counter-terrorism department, said some of the smuggling killings were also linked to rising militant groups elsewhere in the country in the past year. Lately year.

Mr. Ali, the factory worker who was the victim of two recent robberies, said the most recent happened around 9 a.m. one day at his usual breakfast spot in a lower-income neighborhood. . While he was drinking a cup of tea, four armed robbers burst in.

“Hand in your phone and wallet now!” According to Mr. Ali, the thieves shouted, warning patrons not to resist. Within just a few minutes, the robbers took away valuables from two dozen people there.

The increase in violence has pushed the city back in time about a decade ago, when armed wings of political parties, Taliban rebels and criminal gangs control large areas of the city, their turf battles often spilling over into the streets. Television news programs are filled with reports of murder every night. Family members contact each other every day to make sure they come home from work alive. Others barely leave their homes.

A paramilitary-led operation that began in 2013 to destroy rebels restored order. Homicides plummeted from about 3,100 in 2012 to 508 in 2020, according to police data.

Now, however, fear — and outrage — has returned. Syed Akhtar Hussain, 70, said: “The government seems to have abandoned the people of Karachi to the robbers.” Syed Akhtar Hussain, 70, said. His 38-year-old son, Syed Ali Rehbar, was shot dead in January by robbers who attacked him while he was delivering food. for a ride-hailing application.

One recent afternoon at a bustling tea shop along Karachi’s main road, dozens of taxi drivers, businessmen and university students were sipping steaming cups of tea and chatting under the shade of trees. Almost everyone is wary on the road, suspecting that any motorcyclist passing by could be a robber in disguise.

“Before 2014, our worries were ethnic violence and stray bullets from gang wars,” said Muhammad Zaheer, a 33-year-old computer businessman. “Security operations brought peace for several years, but now the fear is different. Street criminals will not hesitate to kill you if you refuse to hand over your phone.”

Social media only adds to general anxiety. Every day, new videos go viral showing robbers brazenly robbing valuables in broad daylight on crowded streets, at restaurants, at traffic lights, at barbershops. , even at mosques.

As public outrage grew, political leaders struggled to find solutions. Officials have issued regulations to control the sale of used phones and motorbikes – items frequently targeted in robberies. The city’s mayor, Murtaza Wahab, has promised to install thousands of surveillance cameras. Others, including the provincial governor and some political parties and business associations, have called for a more aggressive approach, including military intervention and gun licenses so people can protect yourself.

Last month, Mr. Zardari, the president, directed the provincial government to launch a campaign against street crime in Karachi, but no such action has yet begun. Experts warn that a crackdown could worsen the problem.

Zoha Waseem, a Pakistani police expert at Warwick University in the UK, said: “Historically, pressure on police to produce quick results has led to violent, coercive acts such as staged killings. detention, torture, arbitrary detention, and a shoot-to-kill policy.” . She added: “The police response is not a long-term solution.

Public trust in the police – already eroded by years of corruption and ineffectiveness – has plummeted after many officers were implicated in street crime. In January alone, more than 55 Karachi police officers faced suspension on suspicion that they were involved with criminal groups or received kickbacks from these criminal groups.

Some residents are taking matters into their own hands, leading to a worrying increase in vigilante justice.

Last Wednesday, a crowd enraged by a robbery chased two fleeing men, killing one and wounding the other. The day before, a mob had lynched another man suspected of robbery. Three days earlier, police narrowly saved three robbery suspects from an execution.

“Simmering public anger is normalizing the violence of dangerous crowd”. “These mobs mete out punishment based solely on suspicion, putting both the innocent and the guilty in danger.”