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Majority
report weapons Cultural code versus
legal code law POs and police
officials By Shahid Husain Essentially a brain child of eminent jurist and a former governor Sindh, Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) is working as a deterrent for criminals in the mega city Karachi and has immensely helped the common man in getting the First Information Report (FIR) registered if it is refused by police for some odd reason, says Sharfuddin Memon, chief of CPLC.
Editorial It was an angry response to the killing of a lawyer last week who happened to be an additional advocate general of the Punjab government that shaped this Special Report. Reports suggested that political enmity led the rival group to open fire, and a huge one at that, leaving at least eight people dead on the spot. Arif Bhinder always carried police guards along because his life was in danger. As subsequently shown, he shared some responsibility for inviting this danger to his life. Yet the impunity with which an incident of such magnitude took place in a city like Lahore makes one ask a simple question: What could have prevented it? And that reminds one of the high profile unresolved murder of a DIG in Kohat, the attack on a DIG in a busy market in Lahore and the hundreds and thousands of crimes of all sorts committed in the country, with no distinction between their ordinary and not-so-ordinary victims. Any discussion on the country's law and order unwittingly turns to the Police Order 2002, which was said to have replaced more than a century old law. The haste that characterised its drafting is evident from the fact that in about four years time it has seen 118 amendments. Already. Conceived to make the police force accessible to people and aiming to set up institutions like Public Safety Commission that sought public administration and supervision of the police, the new law looked too good on paper. In reality, three year security of tenure for police officials turned out to be a pipedream as did many others lofty ideals of the order. But how can one think of law and order in a country awash with arms? Only the proclaimed offenders can match the arms in numbers. And what of the culture that literally breeds crime? Here are a few answers...
Arms bazaar Sources of illegal weapons are all too well known to need investigation By Rahimullah Yusufzai Pakistan is awash with weapons, both legal and illegal.
Thanks to the lucrative gun-running business, there has never been a shortage
of arms in the country but the Afghan conflict, which was triggered by the
communist Saur Revolution in April 1978 and is still continuing after many
twists and turns, was the single largest factor for the proliferation of First the former USSR, and later the US and its Cold War allies in the West and in the Arab world and South Asia, introduced the most lethal weapons into Afghanistan. The AK-47 (Kalashnikov) assault rifle was initially manufactured in the Soviet Union but its copies were made in several other countries. To counter Moscow's accusations that the US and countries allied to it were sending arms for the Afghan mujahideen, the AK-47s made in Egypt, China and Czechoslovakia were bought in bulk and smuggled into Afghanistan. These Kalashnikovs were inferior in quality to the real ones made in Russia, but the strategy helped bring down prices and enabled the US, at least for some time, to deny the allegation by Moscow that arms from stockpiles in Pakistan were being sent to Afghanistan to equip the Afghan mujahideen. It is another matter that this secret was out soon and the Pakistan Army conceded the futility of the exercise by allowing a former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operative Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf to write a tell-all book. It revealed the story of CIA and ISI-sponsored assistance given to the Afghan mujahideen to fight the Khalq-Parcham-led communist regime in Kabul and the Red Army that was deployed for 10 years in Afghanistan to save the crumbling governments led one after the other by Babrak Karmal and Dr Najibullah. The Kalashnikov in due course of time became the symbol of status and pride. It was the only automatic and sophisticated weapon that made its way into the Pakistani markets, as well as conscience. It gave its name to the term 'Kalashnikov culture,' which was used to describe the influx of illicit arms into Pakistan. The Kalashnikov retained its pride of place even though bigger and more lethal weapons such as the Russian-made Dachaka and Zikoyak machineguns subsequently reached the arms markets in our tribal areas, collectively known as Fata. The 32-bore TT pistols and advanced versions of the AK-47 known as Kalakov and Karankov also debuted in the tribal borderlands and gradually became available in settled areas of NWFP and beyond. The RPG-7 rockets and rocket-launchers of different description too were sold and bought by the resourceful and discerning sellers and buyers. During the height of the Afghan war in the 1980s and 1990s, there were reports that the shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles including the US-made Stinger and the low-quality British-manufactured Blowpipe were up for sale in Fata for the right price. Alarmed that the Stinger missiles could fall into the hands of their Iranian foes and also terrorists and criminals, the Americans later launched a CIA-funded buy-back programme but it didn't achieve much despite offering huge amount of dollars to anyone willing to sell their Stingers. Apart from the modern and sophisticated weapons that entered Pakistan from war-ravaged Afghanistan, there were always arms markets in Fata catering to the needs of local buyers. The gun-manufacturing bazaar in Darra Adamkhel is almost 110 years old. Then there are arms bazaars, where manufacturing, assembling and repairs take place along with weapons' sales, in Nawagai in Bajaur Agency and a few other places in Fata. There is even a small arms market, along with repair shops, in Sakhakot in the provincially administered tribal area (Pata) of Malakand Agency. Buyers are able to purchase unlicensed arms from these markets or they manage licenses and then place orders for a particular weapons made in Darra. The copies that the skilled gun-makers of Darra produce are clever replicas of famous Western guns and pistols. They look like weapons made in Spain and Italy but are priced much less and are of inferior quality. In the past, plans were made to modernize gun-making at Darra by imparting technological skills to gun-makers in the Pakistan Ordnance Factories in Wah and introduce manufacturing of export-quality sports guns for Western markets there but nothing materialised. Now federal minister Jehangir Tareen has come up with a new initiative on almost the same lines for the benefit of Darra's gun-makers and one would have to wait and see its results. The Afghan mujahideen in the early days of their 'jehad' bought some of their arms from Darra and elsewhere in Fata. Later, the flow of arms was reversed and Darra started getting automatic and sophisticated weapons from Afghanistan for sale and repairs. The arms were also supplied to buyers and middlemen from downcountry, as far as Karachi and to place in interior Sindh and Punjab. Some arms to Sindh and Punjab came from Balochistan, which was the first stop for gun-runners smuggling weapons from southwestern Afghanistan. As the demand for modern and better quality arms rose, the suppliers and smugglers were prompted to look for new sources of supply and routes to ply the trade. There was so much money to be made in the business that members of law-enforcement agencies also became involved in gun-running. That explains the ease with which arms are smuggled all the way from Pakistan's western borders with Afghanistan down to Karachi in the south. Smugglers, whether of guns or drugs, and other criminals are in many instances better armed than the cops and are thus feared. Past governments have made half-hearted efforts to seize illicit arms or regularize the sale of weapons. One such attempt was made by the Nawaz Sharif government but it ended in a dismal failure. A major hurdle in making a success of such projects is the inability of our rulers to ensure the rule of law and to refuse exemptions to the privileged few. Granting licenses of prohibited bore weapons to the resourceful people and allowing the rich and the powerful to procure as many arms as they want invariably set bad precedents and prompt others to gain similar privileges by offering bribes to those who matter. Maintaining law and order in such a situation is a challenging task, more so on account of the political interference that is a fact of life in Pakistan and is known to impede and affect police work. Pakistan is presently confronted with insurgencies in two areas -- Waziristan and Balochistan -- and the Islamic militants and Baloch nationalists fighting the military there use all kinds of weapons, from missiles to landmines. The armed forces employ gunship helicopters and long-range artillery in this battle. Whatever the outcome of these insurgencies, one thing is certain. Some of these dangerous weapons, in due course of time, would reach relatively peaceful parts of Pakistan and become available to those desirous of seeking more lethal arms. The end-result would be worsening of the law and order situation.
Cultural code versus legal code What happens when upholding the collective honour of a tribe, clan or family is more important than protecting and individual's life and property By Muhammad Badar Alam View from the barrel of a gun is narrow and the laws
governing the possession and use of a gun even narrower. This does not mean
that the availability of a gun in Pakistan is a big deal. No, it's not. In
the tribal parts of the country, carrying guns and not-so-infrequently using
them is a custom, not a crime. Even in the so-called settled areas --
including big cities -- many people believe they are a necessity, not a
nuisance. What is it that makes something palpably illegal socially so acceptable? First the dichotomy between social norms, that have evolved over time, and the laws governing the society, which are a relatively new phenomenon. The modern state structure that countries like Pakistan have inherited from their colonial rulers is based on the premise that the use of violence cannot be allowed to be a private affair. The nation state, ideally, has a monopoly over the use of violence and, therefore, the possession of the tools and weapons to perpetrate that violence. This flows from the premise that state, being the representative of all its citizens, keeps the public good in mind and to ensure that may have to resort to violence against some individual bent upon doing damage to that public good. To define what constitutes public good and what will happen to those not respecting it, the state makes laws and creates mechanisms to implement those laws. The nature, number and scope of these laws may vary from country to country as do the institutional mechanisms to ensure their implementation but almost everywhere they are, first and foremost, aimed at safeguarding the lives and properties of the individuals and ensuring a desirable level of public order and decency. The most important conditions for that to happen is equality before law, regardless of individuals status, and the state's ability to eliminate and override all other structures and apparatus existing within it for using violence as a means to create order and dispense justice. In colonised states this theoretical ideal was done away with at the altar of political expediency. The colonisers' primary purpose was to remain supreme in terms of power, so they allowed any social, political and even judicial mechanism to stay put which ensured that their supremacy was not challenged. In British India, this allowed jirgas, qazis and tribal justice systems -- run by powerful individuals called sardars, nawabs, khans and maliks -- to be protected rather than uprooted by the colonisers. In the post-colonial independent states, at least in the case of Pakistan, there were no tribal and traditional vestiges where rule of the modern law did not apply. In fact, they were everywhere and the equality before the law and supremacy of the state to implement that law was exception rather than the rule. The society was, and remains, largely tribal and feudal. In a tribal/feudal society and even the modern, urban culture that evolves from it, it's not an individual's life and property which needs to be protected the most. As is evident from the oft-read stories about honour killing and tit-for-tat bloody feuds, this society gives honour the pride of position and all the rest are subordinate to it. There is no sanctity attached to an individual's life and property. Even when someone is killed, his or her murder is avenged not because an individual is killed but because not being able to take revenge is seen as sullying the honour of the tribe/clan/family. Also, tribal/feudal societies are hierarchical where some are more equal than the rest. The surest way to be above others is to be powerful by any means possible. Being able to defy the state-sponsored legal and judicial systems which at least theoretically treat everyone equally is sine-qua-non of power. When a society for various historical and political reasons sees power flowing from the barrel of a gun, those using it illegally -- and getting away with it -- are seen as more powerful than those who can wield it legally. Nobody should challenge their supremacy, let alone attempt to have them tried for their criminality because that, more often than not, will never happen. Policemen with a vast field experience point out that ethical values of such a society are hardly compatible with the legal system that we have. "There are many practices which constitute a crime in legal terms, but the society condones them, nay promotes them, in the name of societal norms," says Fayyaz Chaudhry, a middle-ranking police officer posted in Lahore. Take honour killing. Fayyaz says policemen are individuals living in a certain social set-up before they are law-enforcers. "They are bound to be influenced by the society they come from. If that society does not, for example, considers family feuds a crime, the policemen belonging to it should not be expected to think and act otherwise. They are after all still part and parcel of that society in their roles as fathers, brothers, husbands and friends," he tells The News on Sunday. Others in police department believe that a policeman's duty is to uphold the law no matter what. "Of course, our culture does not promote rule of the law as European cultures do, but this does not mean that a police official cannot do anything about it," says Javed Hussain Shah, working as district police officer in Sahiwal. "A well-meaning police officer can curb any crime if he wants to disregard any cultural or other pressures that he faces in doing. The law of the land should be upheld and it can be only if police officials refuse to budge under external pressures," he tells TNS on phone. If that's the case, all Pakistan needs is a battery of policemen ready to take on the powers of sub-state/non-state structures and mechanisms in the country. But another district police officer, Raja Riffat posted in Pakpattan, observes that crime in a country is directly proportional to the acceptance or otherwise of crime and criminal in the culture of that society. "It's as basic as that: Culture is one of the six reasons for crime in a country -- the other five being biological, psychological, economic, political and sociological factors," he says. If a culture condones, rather promotes, some crimes, they will keep happening no matter how rigorous the laws governing them and how strict their implementation.
Whose order? The new police order envisaged a shift in the attitude of police officials towards people and the accountability of police by the representatives of public. None of this has been realised so far By Aoun Sahi On August 6, a little more than four years ago, the
federal cabinet approved the Police Order 2002 that was decided to be
promulgated a few days later on August 14 simultaneously in four provinces,
replacing the colonial Police Act of 1861. President Gen Pervez Musharraf,
who was presiding over that meeting, termed it a 'historic decision' and said
that the promulgation of the Police Order would transform the police from a
"repressive entity to an accountable and responsive setup" which
would be enjoying the confidence and trust of people and the government. The new police order represented a shift in the attitude of police officials towards people and the inclusion of public through its representatives in overseeing the performance of police and even in its accountability through public safety commissions and police complaints commission. The then chairman National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB), the authority that evolved the new police order, Tanvir Naqvi had said after the cabinet approved the order that 'District Safety Commission' will be the focal point to redress people's complaints about the excesses of the police at the district level. He had said that police complaint authority will help creating an organisation that would breach the distance between citizens and the police. The purpose of the authority is also to keep a strict eye on the police force and its attitude and behaviour with people. He had hoped that the new police order will bring revolutionary changes in policing in Pakistan. Practically, more than four years after the promulgation of the Order, there is no change either in the police attitude or the law and order situation in the country. Despite the fact that government has spent billion of rupees (borrowed from Asian Development Bank) on police. Let alone common people's perception or complaints who are said to be "never happy with police", the president, the prime minister and even the Supreme Court of Pakistan have expressed their strong concerns many times over in the recent past. A Punjab police officer, requesting anonymity, says all investment in the police department and introduction of reforms will go down the drain unless political interference is stopped. "Politicians want to see their favourite SHOs at the police stations in their constituencies and this practice has marred the progress of the department," he says. Politicians from opposition think that it is the government itself that has created a mess in police department, first through a hastily designed 2002 Police Order and then through the amendments. Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas, general secretary PPPP Punjab, says that with no public safety commissions or police complaints authority the police order has made police more powerful. "They are not answerable to anyone but the chief minister who is using it for his own political motives. The Police Order 2002, that is still to be fully implemented, was massively amended in November 2004 through the Police Order (Amendment) Ordinance, 2005. The Amendment Ordinance introduced substantive changes in a number of sections, altogether affecting 54 Articles of the original Police Order 2002, in fact totally repealing the original order," he tells TNS. Abbas is of the view this shows the government is not clear about the policing. "They are just interested in getting strong control over institutions like police department, it does not matter to them how damaging this process is for these organisations." Most of the police officials have strong reservations on the amendments in police order 2002 and think these have been introduced to please the provincial governments, chief ministers and legislators, who were unhappy on losing some of their control (or opportunities of interference in the routine operations of police) on the police department because of institutional checks and balances established under the Police Order 2002. A superintendent of Punjab police thinks that most amendments defy the very basic premise the Police Order 2002 was based on. Dr Shoaib Suddle, Director General National Police Bureau, who has played a vital role in evolving and implementing the new police order 2002, says that a substantial part of the order is yet to be implemented. That, he says, could be one reason why the police is unable to give results. "Very basic institutions like public safety commissions and police complaints authorities have not been operational." Suddle says that the term of office for an officer under whom a police division, subdivision, or police station is placed has been clearly defined. It would be the same as that of Head of District Police (i.e. 3 years) (Clause 4 of Article 21). "Last month I attended a seminar conducted by NRB on police order, a study in that seminar revealed that after implementation of police order on average the life span of an SHO in a police station is around four months. How does one expect better performance in this period of time?" he questions. Suddle says that most of the posting are made on the issue of 'good or bad' performance. "If one officer is unable to deliver in one district or police station, why is he transferred to another district or police station instead of sacking him from the office." He thinks there should be a persistent selection criteria as well as a minimum time period for some post. "The Inspector General should be given goals and then there should be no political involvement in micro level police matters like appointment of district police officers or SHOs. He should be free to handle his force and if he fails to give results in a said period of time he ought to be sacked," he says. Police officials, on the other hand, think that it will take time to improve the efficiency of police under new police order. District Police Officer (DPO) Kasur Capt (retired) Ahmad Mobeen says: "A system more than one century old will take time for its total revision. There is improvement in certain areas after the new police order. Police itself need time to make things happen," he says. Mobeen says that with the separation of 'watch and ward' and 'investigation' the situation has improved. "However there should be one head at a police station who is responsible for the overall working of a police station."
Being a proclaimed offender is like having a licence to commit the most heinous crimes. The police failure to do something about it only encourages the trend By Ahsan Zia As the crime graph goes higher, the law enforcing authorities are facing reprimand at the hands of the government for failing to control the situation. Police officers from different parts of the country are also being regularly summoned by the superior courts and censured for their poor performance. Despite all this, however, there is no break for the common man whose sense of insecurity is increasing by the day. Lately, senior government functionaries have pointed out that the inability of the police to arrest proclaimed offenders (POs) is one of the foremost causes of increase in crime. The situation, according to them, has deteriorated to such an extent that POs are operating freely all over the country and committing crimes of all sorts. Wanted for involvement in different heinous crimes, these POs are enjoying absolute freedom of movement -- thanks to the carefree attitude of police force. The questions that arise here are: To what extent are the POs responsible for the overall increase in the heinous crimes in the country; Why have the police not been able to apprehend a reasonable number of them in spite of launching scores of crackdowns in the past; and what are the factors that actually affect the police performance in this respect? Raees Mithan, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) of Sindh Police posted in North Karachi, says proclaimed offenders usually don't stay at their actual addresses after committing heinous crimes, and keep on changing their hideouts. "We call them Target Offenders (TOs) in police language. Whenever extreme pressure is exerted by political bosses or courts, the police force comes into action and gets hold of whoever comes in its way." In such situations, he says, police action is brisk and painful because there is hardly any discrimination between the criminals and the innocent. This is what a traditional crackdown on POs means. It yields as many proclaimed offenders as it does innocent citizens. But Raees says: "To my mind, it's stupid to think that these traditional police crackdowns on POs can bring the crime rate down. What happens is that the police pick up the family members of the POs and try to extract information about the whereabouts of the POs. In case police is not able to get information from the relatives, the next target are the gangs to which these criminals belong to or had belonged to in the past," says Raees. At the end of the day, the exercise yields some results but they are not worth the entire crackdown. A station house officer (SHO) of the Punjab police, on the condition of anonymity, says: "It is also true that such police actions time and again have resulted in the arrest of only low profile criminals. These low profile POs are not usually active. Arresting them is useless in checking crime." Soon they are released by the same police which arrests them. "We cannot keep them at police station indefinitely because the fear of court bailiff pursuing habeas corpus cases and public pressure oblige us to set them free if they are not found to be involved in the specific crime for which they have been arrested," the SHO says. He also claims that most of the senior and middle-ranking police officers are oblivious of POs' movement even in their own areas. "On getting strict directions to arrest POs, policemen usually ransack proclaimed offenders' houses through raids and take away whatever valuables they find there," he says. He says it's the overwhelming dependence of the police on secret agencies to apprehend proclaimed offenders that affects their performance. "Without the assistance of secret agencies, we cannot track down high-profile criminals. It's with their cooperation that we bug POs' cell phones and those of their relatives to get hold of them." He says latest bugging system can turn on even switched off cell phones, secretly at any moment. "These latest bugging devices have made it possible for us to hear and record the voices that go around these turned off mobile phones. But we employ this method only in high profile cases." Employing this mechanism, the police have managed to arrest a hit man, Aslam Basa, recently from Shadbagh, Lahore, he claims. But, he says, it is quite a cumbersome and lengthy procedure. "Generally, officials of intelligence agencies don't cooperate with us. We have to get prior approval from their bosses, with the consent of our own senior officers." The SHO also claims that it is the involvement of active POs in heinous crimes which is pushing crime rate up. As many as 60 to 70 cases of crime against property are committed daily in the jurisdiction of each police station of Lahore and the number is much higher in Karachi -- thanks to these active POs. He says it's not just the recent murder of Additional Advocate General, Punjab, Arif Bhindar that has taken place at the hands of active POs. Many police officials, including some senior officers, have also been killed by these POs in the recent past. Hamid Shakeel, district police officer in Mastung, Balochistan, says if the police fulfills its responsibilities in registering First Information Reports, collecting relevant evidence and arresting the accused without delay, the number of active POs will be greatly reduced. But he says the police alone should not be held responsible for the current state of affairs because they cannot lay their hands on influential people involved in heinous crimes. "They manage to remain at large and continue to commit crimes. They are protected by chaudhris and waderas. The police do not have the courage to search their hideouts usually provided by their patrons." According to Hamid, tribal areas and some parts of Balochistan and Sindh have also become their sanctuaries. "The writ of the state is virtually non-existing in these areas." That's why, he says, drives against the POS and absconders do not produce the desired results. Hamid suggests that head money should be announced for active POs, as is done for terrorists. "This can be helpful in tracking down the POs with the help of people." Haji Habib-ur-Rehman, Capital City Police Chief, Peshawar, is of the view that there is a need for ensuring better communication among senior officers to share precise information about criminals for carrying out search operations against POs throughout the country. "The police need to devise a strategy under which a coordinated operation in the four provinces can be launched against the POs who are involved in kidnapping, murder, dacoity and other serious crimes," he says. Haji Habib says data about the criminals collected by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) should also be shared with the provinces so as to pinpoint the criminals' hideouts all over the country. "A uniform surveillance of the operation is also required in all major districts to prevent this exercise from becoming superficial".
Profile of CPLC that is working as a deterrent for criminals in the mega city called Karachi
By Shahid Husain Essentially a brain child of eminent jurist and a former
governor Sindh, Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee
(CPLC) is working as a deterrent for criminals in the mega city Karachi and
has immensely helped the common man in getting the First Information Report
(FIR) registered if it is refused by police for some odd reason, says
Sharfuddin Memon, chief of CPLC. Established in 1989 when extortion, kidnapping for ransom and brutal killings by marauders was on its peak in Karachi, CPLC has been contributing in tracking down criminals despite limited resources. It works round the clock with a highly professional staff of 35 people and a monthly expenditure of Rs 1.2 million. Eighty per cent of its funding comes from the private sector, especially the business community while the rest is contributed by the government. "The CPLC was established in an era when law and order situation in Karachi was at its lowest ebb. People would come to me and narrate their problems. That prompted me to establish an organisation that could act as a liaison between citizens and the police," recalls Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, the former governor of Sindh. "Its office was established in the Governor House to give an impression to the people that their grievances would be duly attended. I think the CPLC has been lucky to have good leadership since its inception but I feel the government should have a more proactive role to boost the activities of this organisation," he adds. "Small crime is ascending in the city and the middle class is suffering immensely. People are often looted when they draw money from banks and ATMs. I think the law and order should be the top priority of the government," he says. Memon, the current chief, elaborates the small successes of CPLC. "Now we have five zonal offices as well and we even receive complaints on domestic violence. The other day we received a complaint from the wife of cricketer Moin Khan who thrashed his wife," says Memon. "Besides facilitating registration of FIRs we are also tackling police excesses and illegal detention of citizens," says Memon. "We have a well established criminal data base since tracking down criminal needs accurate information. The data base also help in analysing the crime pattern," he explains. "The perception of the law and order situation in Karachi is very bad but the ground reality is different. The problem is that police response to the affected people is not good. Their confidence level will become better if police helpline works efficiently," says Memon. In the sprawling city of 15 million where population the size of Islamabad adds up every year due to internal migration, it's a formidable job to maintain law and order, more so because problems like inflation, unemployment and insecurity has penetrated deep in the Pakistan society as a result of myopic planning. But Memon is not pessimistic. He hails from the business community and his name as CPLC chief was recommended by Jehangir Siddiqui, a well known corporate personality and a major played in equity market. A 1986 graduate of Karachi's prestigious NED University of Engineering and Technology, Memon joined the CPLC in 2003. "The CPLC is now a statuary body and is working as an institution. Even if I leave the organisation it will continue working," says Memon. "I greatly appreciate the job done by my predecessors Nazim Haji and Jameel Yousuf who worked tirelessly for the organisation despite their business commitments. I myself devote 10-12 hours to the CPLC," says Memon. "We are linked with the excise department and have their entire data and also contribute in police welfare through establishing dispensaries and schools for their families. But it's high time to change the police image because the very name generates insecurity among the people," he says. A cursory glance at the existing situation in Karachi shows that the cases of kidnapping in the city during January 1990 and December 2006 were 420. The number of gangs apprehended through the assistance of CPLC was 140 and 289 cases were solved. In other words, the success rate was about 70 per cent. The 4-wheelers snatched in the city was 3714 in 1996, 5730 in 1997, 6811 in 1998, 3688 in 1999, 3215 in 2000, 4230 in 2001, 3396 in 2002, 3370 in 2003, 3798 in 2004, 3960 in 2005 and 5081 in 2006, according to CPLC data. The recovery rate during these years varies between 43-60 per cent. The highest risk areas in 4-wheel snatching/theft in 2006 were Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Clifton, Jamshed Town , North Nazimabad, Gulberg, Saddar, Shah Faisal, Liaquatabad, New Karachi and Gadap. Similarly, there were 18857 cases of cell phone snatching and 54157 cases of cell phone theft in Karachi in 2006 as compared to 9376 cases in upcountry. But Memon is confident. "In 2005 and mid-2006, as many as 300 cell phones were snatched in Karachi every day. Today, the average snatching has dropped to 100 per day. I think it's an improvement."
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weapons of every description in both urban and rural areas. The problem is
definitely acute in the NWFP, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata)
and Balochistan, all of which border Afghanistan, though other provinces
haven't escaped from the fallout of the Afghan war.
