Political activists, traders and residents of Keamari took to the streets on Friday to protest the high crime rate in their impoverished port area for which they also blame the police.
Dozens of protesters, including shop keepers, labourers and political activists blocked the MA Jinnah Road near the Jackson police station after Friday prayers to express their anger over the increasing number of street crimes in the area.
The road, which is a major route for the in- and outbound trade cargo, remained blocked for at least two-and-a-half hours.
The protesters gathered at the scene at around 2.30pm and created a severe traffic gridlock until 5pm
Led by a local cleric Maulana Matiur Rehman, Karachi Dock Labour Board president Haji Gul Muhammad and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Muhammad Asif Khan, they demanded a “clean-up operation” in the area.
A protester, Faisal Khan, told Pakistan Today that during the last couple of days, up to 45 shops; including clinics, medical stores, kitchens, go-downs and cold drink spots on Masan Road; have been robbed.
Another angry protester, nicknamed Koka, said the robbers broke the lock of his shop and took away some 350 cartons of cold drinks.
“I went to the police but they did not lodge my FIR,” he lamented. Some protesting shopkeepers also carried the broken locks of their shops to show them to the police and the media.
“Down with SHO and TPO Jackson”, “SHO Jackson Stop Patronising Drug Peddlers”, “Should We Leave Keamari?” read some of banners and placards that they held. “Mobile Snatching and Robbery are a Routine,” read a placard held by 12-year-old Ibrahim.
The protesters demanded a “clean up operation” to rid the area of criminals “who are selling drugs, running gambling clubs, looting vehicles and depriving poverty-stricken residents of Keamari of their hard-earned money and other valuables, mostly mobile phones”.
“If the police do not take action against these criminals, we will block the main road at Merewether Tower, stop cargo handling at the Karachi Port and then finally set the Jackson police station on fire,” Karachi Dock Labour Board president Haji Gul Muhammad told the enraged protesters.
The labour leader said the masses would be free to take up weapons to protect their lives and properties if the law enforcers fail to deliver. “We want Zulfiqar Summo [back],” shouted the protesters. Summo was the former SHO of the Jackson police station and had earned a good name for making Keamari a crime-free neighbourhood.
“When we take up weapons for self-protection, the government declares us Taliban, but it remains indifferent to the police patronising criminals,” the Karachi Dock Labour Board president said.
The agitation also allowed political activists from opposition parties, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Jamat-e-Islami, to settle the score with the government. “There are criminals selling drugs in areas like Tapoo, Docks Colony, 20-Number Bus Stop and Katchi Para… go and arrest them,”, PML-N leader Muhammad Asif Khan told Jackson SHO Shaukat Shahni.
The agitation came to an end when the residents’ representatives and the police negotiated and the latter assured the former that meaningful action would be taken within a week.