In a recent press talk, Sindh’s Inspector General of Police, Ghulam Nabi Memon, stated that the police department has faced significant losses in personnel and resources battling dacoit gangs who possess more advanced weaponry.
He, however, mentioned that the Sindh government is acquiring similar arms for the police force, with a shipment expected from Turkey in the next two weeks.
Street crime in Karachi has been on an alarming rise since the beginning of the year and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has voiced its concern on the matter.
Once known as the city of lights, Karachi has long been the victim of street crimes and the breakdown of law and order, making the lives of common people difficult.
In 2023, over 90,000 crimes were reported in the metropolitan city which was, unfortunately, an increased number as compared to 2022 when 80,000 crimes were registered.
As per the reports, out of 90,000 incidents a total of 134 citizens were brutally murdered, hundreds injured over resisting robberies, while 411 civilians were killed in various incidents.
HRCP released a statement on X saying, “The first quarter of 2024 has followed the same pattern. While vigilantism and increased brutality in response by citizens is not the answer, the government’s failure to address rising crime levels is shocking.”
It further stated that the core reasons for this upward tick in crimes have always been “unemployment” and “economic desperation” which must be urgently addressed to restore law and order in the city.
Sindh Home Minister Zia ul Hasan Lanjar has said that Karachi’s law and order situation is being “exaggerated”. In a press briefing held on Sunday, he said “Street crime exists in Karachi, however, it has been exaggerated in media.”
On March 13, the provincial cabinet was informed that nearly 16,000 street crimes had been recorded in Karachi since January 2024. He termed street crime as “part of daily life.” Since January, 49 citizens have been killed resisting street crimes.
The Minister showed sympathy with the families of those who lost their lives, stating that measures were being taken to end the wave in Karachi, including action against the station house officer (SHO) where crime would occur.
Furthermore, he said that around 1,000 policemen would be sent to Kashmore District for an operation against the criminals in that area.
Two women pretending to be customers tricked a shopkeeper in the Samundri area of Faisalabad.
According to details, the women entered the clothes shop on the pretext of shopping, asked the shopkeeper to show them various valuable suits and kept looking for more.
Later, when the shopkeeper found that the suits were missing, he went through the CCTV footage after which he came to know about the women’s trickery who stole the clothes.
The total value of the clothes was more than 40 thousand rupees.
Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) has ordered the removal of kites and strings hanging from electric wires in the city after a young man on a bike died when his neck was slit by a string.
While such cases have been common and the government has banned kite flying and the production of glass/metal coated strings, the local administration is now active after the video of the recent incident went viral on social media and people criticised the use of the deadly string.
Field staff reportedly remained on duty in all eight districts of the region.
Background
21-year-old Asif Ashfaq, killed by a kite string on Dijkot Road, was laid to rest as hundreds gathered at the Samanabad graveyard on Saturday.
Police have initiated investigations, leveraging CCTV footage, to apprehend the unidentified assailant responsible for the fatal incident.
As per the police reports, ASI Javed Iqbal detailed the sequence of events, highlighting that Asif Ashfaq was commuting on his motorcycle when the kite string fatally slashed his throat near T-Chowk Dijkot Road.
Life imprisonment and 14- years jail time were handed down to a prisoner in a case pertaining to sexually assaulting a minor girl by a special court for gender-based violence in Lahore.
On the complaint of the minor’s father, Sanda police had registered the FIR in 2021 against Imran, the brother-in-law of the complainant’s elder daughter who took his 5-year-old daughter to a shrine and sexually assaulted her there.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Kaneez Fatima Bhatti, the presiding judge of the special court, handed down rigorous life imprisonment to the accused for rape under section 376 (iii) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), besides Rs50,000 fine.
Section 376 (iii) of the PPC states, “Whoever commits rape of a minor or a person with mental or physical disability shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life and fine.”
The judge also awarded a 14-year jail term for another offense of sexual abuse (in the same case) under section 377-B of the PPC and imposed a fine of Rs1 million.
Section 377-B of the PPC states, “Whoever commits the offence of sexual abuse shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years and liable to fine which shall not be less than five hundred thousand rupees or with both.”
Imran, who was on bail, was present in the court when the judge announced the guilty verdict. The judge got him arrested and ordered the police to shift him to Kot Lakhpat jail.
In a significant legal development, Additional Sessions Judge-II Mohammad Jameel has handed down death sentences to two seminary students and life imprisonment to another for their involvement in the brutal murder of a young teacher over false blasphemy accusations.
Public prosecutors Tanseer Ali and Haji Shakeel Advocate appeared on behalf of the prosecution, while Asad Aziz Advocate represented the accused.
The judge imposed a fine of Rs2 million each on the convicts. He imposed Rs1 million fine on the girl given a life term for being a juvenile.
According to a police report, on March 29, 2022, three female students of Jamia Islamia Falah Al-Banat located in Anjumabad area on the Dera-Multan Road within the limits of the cantonment police station had slaughtered a young female teacher of their madressah for allegedly committing blasphemy.
The initial investigation revealed that the accused students assaulted Safoora Bibi with a stick at the seminary gate before fatally slitting her throat. Their motivation stemmed from a purported dream shared by one of the students, suggesting that the teacher had committed blasphemy and that her killer would be rewarded in paradise.
Both the perpetrators and the victim hailed from the Mehsud tribe of South Waziristan and were residing in the Anjumabad area.
Following the gruesome incident, Zahid, an uncle of the slain teacher, was informed by the seminary administration about her murder. Upon reaching the scene, he discovered his niece’s tortured and lifeless body abandoned in the street.
Subsequently, the police apprehended the three students and recovered knives and sticks from their possession.
London, United Kingdom – A court in eastern England on Tuesday became the first in the country to jail someone for a new cyber-flashing offence, sentencing a convicted sex offender to 66 weeks in prison.
A judge at Southend Crown Court handed Nicholas Hawkes, 39, the jail term after he previously admitted to the newly designated offence at an earlier appearance.
Cyber-flashing, which can involve offenders sending people an unsolicited sexual image on social media, dating apps or by other electronic communication, became a crime in England and Wales on January 31.
It was part of the government’s Online Safety Act.
Hawkes, from Basildon, east of London, pleaded guilty to two counts of sending a photograph or film of genitals to cause alarm, distress or humiliation.
He had admitted the latest offences of sending unsolicited images to a 15-year-old girl and a woman on February 9.
The woman took screenshots of the photograph on WhatsApp and reported him to police the same day.
Hawkes was already on the sex offenders register after a conviction last year of sexual activity with a child under 16 years old and exposure, for which he also received a community order.
On Tuesday he also pleaded guilty to breaching that order and breaching a suspended sentence for another sexual offence.
Victims of the new cyber-flashing offence and other image-based abuses have lifelong anonymity from the moment they report it under the Sexual Offences Act.
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© Agence France-Presse
Negotiations between Pakistan and the IMF mission for the next instalment of a vital loan will continue to proceed today.
According to sources quoted by Geo news, IMF officials will be briefed on FBR reforms, tax collection and other issues, as well as more immediate measures to increase tax collection in the current financial year.
Sources say that State Bank officials will brief the IMF delegation on the plan to issue new plastic notes to prevent fake currency.
Such currency notes are being used in Far Eastern countries and Switzerland.
The IMF will also be briefed on reports issued under the United Nations Anti-Corruption Convention.
The IMF had set a condition for Pakistan to prepare a report from experts on the efficiency of anti-corruption institutions.
This condition has to be implemented by the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Law.
The IMF will also be briefed on improving the efficiency of government institutions and privatisation.
A 15-year-old boy riding a bicycle stabbed two Israeli security personnel at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday before he was “neutralised,” police said.
The attack occurred at around 8:15 am (0615 GMT) at the Tunnels checkpoint south of Jerusalem when the teenager arrived on a bicycle, the force said in a statement.
“When security forces at the crossing attempted to check him, the terrorist drew a knife and began stabbing the forces present at the scene,” the police said.
“An armed civilian guard immediately engaged with the terrorist, and simultaneously IDF (army) forces at the location responded with precise gunfire neutralising the terrorist.”
Two security personnel were wounded in the stabbing, the police said. It was unclear whether the attacker had been killed.
The knife attack comes a day after a 12-year-old Palestinian boy died after being shot by Israeli border police at a refugee camp in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
Rami Hamdan al-Halhuli, 12, suffered a fatal gunshot wound during clashes between residents of the Shuafat refugee camp and police, who said the child had aimed fireworks at them.
Hundreds of extra police have been deployed in the Old City of east Jerusalem since the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan began on Monday.
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© Agence France-Presse