Pakistan witnesses steep rise in street crime amid flood-induced poverty

Islamabad [Pakistan], October 1 : Amid the deteriorating law and order situation in the country, Karachi has witnessed an "alarming increase" in street crime, exacerbated by the recent floods, Geo news reported citing Sindh Police officials, on Saturday.
A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee was held on Friday under the chair of Senator Mohsin Aziz, where the police officials reviewed the city's overall law and order situation and expressed concerns over the sharp rise in street crimes.
They assessed the performance of the Sindh Police in preventing street crimes, including theft, robbery, kidnapping, murder and target killings in detail, Geo News reported.
The police officials told the committee that after the recent floods, there had been an "extraordinary increase" in street crimes in the city, adding that the police officers have been directed to lodge FIRs.
Sharing the data about the cases, the police officers said that 42,669 crime incidents were reported in 2011, 39,694 in 2015, 61,244 in 2020 and 84,045 in 2021.
Moreover, 385 people were killed in 2018 and 393 people in 2021, while 369 suspected killers were arrested till August 31, 2022, Geo News reported.
In 2018, 2,211 vehicles were snatched, 26,846 vehicles were stolen, and 15,678 mobile phones were snatched, the official said.
In 2021, 4,783 vehicles were snatched, 49,608 vehicles were stolen, and 25,000 mobile phones were snatched, Geo News reported.
Pakistan has endured severe monsoon weather since mid-June 2022, causing widespread flooding and landslides with severe repercussions on human lives, property, agriculture, and infrastructure.
This has also given rise to increased poverty, unemployment and severe livelihood challenges for the locals.
The recent flooding which created havoc in the country is estimated to cause damage to the extent of USD 28 billion and an upsurge in poverty by 5 per cent, indicating that nine to 12 million people might fall below the poverty line.
Pakistan Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri said that it has also been heard that flood victims' women were raped under the pretext of giving aid and children were also abducted.
Pakistan has a total of 160 districts. To date, 81 districts across five of Pakistan's six provinces have been declared 'calamity hit' by the Government of Pakistan -- with Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces being the worst hit.
As of mid-September, 33 million people were affected, at least 1,481 persons have died, over 12,720 people have been injured and an estimated 7.6 million persons may be temporarily displaced.
There is also an outbreak of diseases in the country, children are dying from cholera.
The stagnant floodwaters have led to widespread cases of skin and eye infections, diarrhoea, malaria, typhoid and dengue fever across numerous provinces, triggering health threats to people. Despite the efforts of the government and local and foreign relief organisations, many people are in urgent need of food and medicine in flood-hit regions.
A majority of Pakistanis are unhappy with the government's response to the unprecedented natural disaster that has ravaged millions of lives in the cash-strapped country, according to a survey.
This displeasure was evident in the latest Pattan survey published this week. The survey was conducted by community-based activists at 38 disaster-hit localities of 14 districts of three flood-hit provinces, the Dawn newspaper reported.
As per the survey, most localities were unhappy with the performance of state institutions. People in 92 per cent of locations were forced to leave their villages and neighbourhoods due to floods, the survey said.
After six weeks of flooding, many families from 15 locations were found living under the open sky on roads, and without tents. In 10 locations majority appeared to have received 'nothing.'