Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Saturday attributed the rise in street crimes in Karachi to the current financial situation of the country.
“Street crime has increased in the city due to economic downturn but being head of provincial government, it is my responsibility to maintain law and order in the province,” said Murad said while talking to media just after proposing Sindh PPP President Nisar Khuhro for the Senate seat that had fallen vacant after disqualification of PTI leader Faisal Wavda at the Election Commission office.
He said the provincial government had eliminated street crimes and terrorism from the megapolis city with the support of people of Karachi and now again his government has taken street crimes as a challenge which would be eradicated to restore writ of the government.
The CM said the street crime has been increased in the city due to the economic downturn but being head of provincial government, it was his responsibility to maintain law and order in the province. “I have made some changes in the city police and have guided them to take drastic measures to control law and order,” he said and added that the killers of journalist Athar Mateen would be arrested soon. Shah said that it was our police, who with the support of Rangers and other law enforcement agencies, crushed terrorists in this city and brought terrorism activities under control by rendering sacrifices in the line of their duty and now they were taking drastic measure to eliminate street crime, he assured.
Replying to a question about some recent incidents in different universities, the chief minister said that he has brought changes in the administration of two universities and more actions were being taken. “Our universities are important, and I would never allow deterioration of the educational atmosphere there,” he vowed. Questioned about Friday’s murder of a journalist in Karachi who was shot dead by armed robbers during an alleged snatching bid, CM Shah said three to four different leads were being worked on and the perpetrators would be arrested soon.
The chief minister pointed out that the worsening law and order situation was a problem afflicting most cities of the country and not solely limited to Karachi, which he said received more attention due to being a major city.
CM Shah was also asked about the many recent harassment cases in Sindh’s educational institutions which he described as “unfortunate”. He stressed that measures, from judicial inquiries to changing administrative boards of institutions, had been taken to tackle the issue.
