Karachi secures 94th spot in the list of global crime ranking issued by Numbeo.com, suggesting further marked improvement in the law and order situation of the city since 2019 when it stood at 61st. In 2014, Karachi was at 6th position.
Numbeo.com published a global crime index annually based on the data collected from the residents of the cities. The organization, however, has informed that the data is 36-months old.
“We consider crime levels lower than 20 as very low, crime levels between 20 and 40 as being low, crime levels between 40 and 60 as being moderate, crime levels between 60 and 80 as being high and finally crime levels higher than 80 as being very high,” said the website.
The index shows that the crime index of Karachi stood at 55.20 in January 2020 hence the city was ranked at 88. Now in February, with the negligible change in the crime index of 55.15, Karachi has further ascended to the 93rd spot out of 387 cities.
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IG Sindh Kaleem Imam hailed the improvement in the crime index of Karachi. He credited the efforts of the Sindh Police to abate the crime level in Karachi noting that there was a time when Karachi stood at 6th spot with a very high crime incidence in the city.
Adding that “Things have improved drastically with the grace of God, at the cost of the martyrdom of officers. He said he is proud of Sindh police but acknowledged the fact that a lot more needs to be done to make Karachi a safe city.
https://twitter.com/sindhpolicedmc/status/1225812051848781825?s=20
Inspector General Sindh, Kaleem Imam, stipulated that all the cities of Sindh particularly Karachi has witnessed an overall decline in various crimes.
Karachi’s evolution of safety since 2014
A previous record of the crime index shows Karachi stood at 6th spot in 2014; 10th spot in 2015; 26th spot in 2016, 47th spot in 2017, 50th spot in 2018; 61st spot in 2019; at 71st spot in mid-2019; 88th spot in Jan 2020 and 93rd spot in February.
A breakdown of statistics shows that law and order have overwhelmingly improved with a sharp jump from 61st in 2019 to 93rd spot in February 2020- within a year.
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Much of that improvement, if not all, can be ascribed to the successful and sustained operation by Pakistan Ranagers that was set into motion in 2013, under the directions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Gen. Rizwan Ahmed (later DG ISI) was then the DG Rangers in Karachi and this operation was set into motion in a low key fashion in the early months of 2013, before the May 2013 elections.
Later PM Nawaz Sharif added more resolve into this operation and provided political support by not letting MQM and PPP fail the operation. Karachi’s law and order had deteriorated after the 2008 elections when PPP, MQM and ANP were all allies in federal government and yet militant gangs affiliated with these parties were fighting each other on the streets of Karachi. Most analysts agree that Karachi suffered because of the political infighting between these three parties – and they influenced Karachi police in such a way that no sustained operation or policy for maintaining peace could work.
Citizens anticipate that Sindh Police will continue its fight against criminal elements in the city. Meanwhile, related research shows a score of the Sindh Police officers are active Twitter users.
It is said that the IG Sindh Kaleem Imam had encouraged the senior officers of Sindh Police to beef up their interaction with the people through social media. This would help them to improve their people-to-people contact providing them a better insight into the problems faced by people.
Following the vision of Inspector General Sindh Syed Kaleem Imam, Sindh police officers are now actively engaging with people on social media to address their complaints, which is a positive step towards modern community policing. Such steps will also help eradicate the structural impediments that obstruct the swift delivery of justice.