Islamabad: 29 percent rise in crime rate in capital this year

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Fazal Sher
ISLAMABAD: The federal capital has witnessed 29 percent increase in different crimes this year.

From January 1 to-date, 67 people have been killed and 770 incidents of robbery, purse snatching and vehicle lifting have taken place in the jurisdiction of 14 police stations of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), a senior police official told Daily Times on condition of anonymity on Saturday.

He said the ICT police registered 67 murder cases in six and half months this year while last year total number of murder cases was 101. “Of 67 cases 34 are blind murders,” he said.

He said the citizens had been deprived of Rs 770 million valuables including vehicles, ornaments, cash, mobiles and computers during various incidents of robbery, car lifting, and purse snatching this year.

He said the city had witnessed 35 percent rise in car-lifting cases as 425 vehicles had been snatched or lifted this year. “Most of the vehicles have been lifted from the limits of Margalla, Shalimar, Industrial Area, Kohsar, Aabpara and Sabzi Mandi police stations,” he added.

Of 770 incidents of different crimes, 345 were related to robbery and purse snatching, he said. However, the ratio of fatal accidents has been decreased this year, he said, adding, so far 56 people have killed in different road accidents.

He said main reason of rising incidents of crime despite huge deployment of police across the city was poor planning, ineffective patrolling and high-ups main focus on providing security to important personalities. “The major part of ICT police is busy in special duties and they could not concentrate on curbing crime rate,” he said.

The division of police for security to general public and VVIPs on the part of authorities clearly indicated that the government was not concerned about ordinary citizens in the capital city,” he said. “As many as 1,500 police officials have been deputed for security to citizens living in the jurisdiction of 14 police stations in Islamabad while 3,500 officials have been deputed to guard Diplomatic Enclave,” he said.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...008_pg11_7