As the political leaders are engaged in an unprecedented political hustle and bustle marked by intra and inter-institutional conflicts, the criminals are on a rampage in the violence-hit metropolis. According to officials in the law enforcement agencies, while the PPP-led coalition government is rolling up sleeves to prepare for the next general elections that according to some quarters are due early next year, the law and order in the city was deteriorating with the span of each day with incidents of targeted killings, extortion and kidnapping for ransom. The said menaces, the officials concede, had risen to be the “biggest challenges” for the social and commercial communities based in this port city that is considered to be the commercial hub of the country. “The CPLC’s call center is attending and addressing over 6,000 complaints every day,” Ahmed Chinoy, Chairman Citizens’ Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), told the audience at the 6th SME Banking Conference held here at a local hotel on Wednesday. Briefing the moot on a deterrent program to support the business community in Karachi, Chinoy said the law and order crisis in the metropolis could only be improved by collaborative efforts by the political forces, bureaucratic establishment, law-enforcement agencies and the common citizens. He highlighted that incidents of extortion and kidnappings had risen to be the biggest challenges for the social and commercial communities in the violence-hit city. His institution, CPLC, Chinoy said also was maintaining a vast data base of car-theft cases, FIRs and jailed prisoners. The traders and industrialists in this volatile city often complain about the ever worsening law and order in the city and its adverse impact on their businesses. Addressing the conference, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Mian Abrar Ahmed underlined the difficulties the businessmen in Karachi and other major cities were facing. He said law and order situation was the most critical challenge his fraternity was presently facing.
