The Foreign Policy (FP) magazine has declared Karachi as the most dangerous mega city.
According to the magazine, the murder ratio in the city is 25 percent higher as compared to other mega cities in the world.
The magazine states that from 2000 to 2010, Karachi’s population grew by more than 80 percent which is roughly equivalent to adding more than New York City’s entire population in just a decade.
Over the past decade, millions of Pakistanis have fled the fighting and terrorism in their country’s northwest to settle in Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial hub and home to banks, corporations, shipping, transport, entertainment and arts. But the influx of migrants in search of jobs has also brought Karachi some less savory additions.
Gangs tied to political parties have long operated in the poorer parts of the city, running extortion rings and land-grab schemes. More recently, Taliban militants have emerged in neighborhoods like Manghopir, where they run criminal and smuggling rackets, rob banks and administer cruel and terrifying justice, the magazine reports.
A war economy driven by the conflict in Afghanistan has opened Karachi and its ports to narcotics and weapons smuggling. Days long fights between gangs or between gangs and the police are not uncommon.
As a result, Karachi is the world’s most dangerous mega city, with a homicide rate of 12.3 per 100,000 residents, about 25 percent higher than any other major city.
According to the magazine, in 2011, 202 murders occurred in Mumbai, India. Karachi had 1,723 – and more than 2,000 in 2012.
