Temporary Suspension In Service - Reason: Mugging!

I have not been adding anything to my blog lately. The main reason is that I am no longer in possession of my favorite portable imaging device, which I was involuntarily relieved of last February. Simply; I was mugged and my mobile phone, along with other belongings taken away.

Although this happened on the 26th of Feb. (i think), I did not feel the need to put it in writing, that is, up till now. The event may have made interesting reading for some but sadly is a much too common occurrence in the streets of Karachi.

The situation regarding street crimes in our city is dire one. One cannot feel easy walking through them, specially after nightfall. The routine of this quick operation, as confirmed by many others, is a consistent one. Usually, two motor cycles are involved ridden by 3 riders. Occasionally, the configuration varies to one bike and two riders. As one can imagine the group surrounds the targets on gun point and one of them tells the victims to spit out their wallets, mobile phones and valuables; A standard mugging.

These activities are now part of the every day life for the Karachites. Governments have come and gone yet this issue has nothing but prevailed. The city police is apparently either powerless or unwilling to tackle this major issue of security. As the use of mobile phones have spread at a monstrous pace, so have these crimes. It is difficult to find a citizen who or his first family has not been a victim of these street crimes.

I hope that our new government takes this issue head-on and actually does something about it rather than leave it to the people.

View of Underpass

A view of one of the recently built underpasses in Karachi. Positive step towards traffic management.

Though an age old tool to control traffic flow, it has been only recently introduced to Karachi's roads. Have been definitely effective, as long as they are not filled with rain water; But that is altogether another story.

Situation in Karachi After News of Ms.Bhutto's Demise

Its all over the media. In fact the telltale signs of what went on in those dreadful three days are still very fresh all around city. Although the authorities have been swift to clear the wreckage and debris of the hundreds of burnt vehicles, still they have left black marks, and not just on the roads. The marks have been left on the thoughts and the never before seen scenes captured in vivid detail by the helpless citizens.

It was an unexpectedly harsh aftermath of the sad incident of Ms.Bhutto's demise.There was a unanimous consensus amongst the queried, regarding the situation of law and order in the city; Pandemonium!

Never in the history has this nation seen such free-handed maliciousness and open-end rampage in any of its cities. Sadly, no one came to rescue as my city burnt. And with it livelihood of thousands of people went up in smoke as the industries and factories became the part of this madness. Even though I was not in the country at the time of these events, I was worried since most of my family was stuck some place else. There was no possibility to get home because of what was going on through out the city. This kind of situation had not oly been seen in just Karachi, it was visible throughout the Sind province and some scattered parts of the country.

People that have seen almost all the post-partition history unwind in front of thier eyes, were simply stunned. That is, only after they reached a safer place. I could go on and on but I think the TV media has probably covered that bit.

The reason I started writing this short article is that I just wanted to express the new sense of insecurity that has risen due to the inaction of our authorities. So much could have been avoided if they had taken action. After all we are ruled by military rulers.

However, kudos to the karchites! The activities return to (close to) normal very shortly. Probably because they have come to terms with what they live amongst.

I hope the government would take good measures to prevent such events in the future.