When those responsible for maintaining law and order are not able to manage the worsening overall situation in Karachi, the residents should prepare themselves for more bad days to come. A provincial minister recently accused the citizens of Karachi for all the ills, such as clogged drains, broken water pipes and non-functioning streetlights.
To his credit, he did not blame the citizens for the rising number of street crimes that the city has been witnessing for the last several months. He could have easily claimed that such crimes were nothing but staged ‘dramas’ in which ‘artists’ pretend to be muggers and looters to blame the government. Otherwise the city is quite peaceful, he could have said. That he chose not to should be taken as an act of mercy on his part for which we should all be grateful.
A little while earlier, the city police chief had also said disturbing things to the effect that the crime rate in Karachi was still lower than the other cities of Pakistan and even some in the United States and other European countries. Even if he was right, which he was not, what did he want us to do … to wait for things to go further south?
MALIK UL QUDDOOS
KARACHI
