Liyari Law
and Order Situation
By Haji Abul Ghafoor
Baloch
USA A report 'Specter of Gang War by Karachian'
(below) is disturbing. I appeal to the president
and prime minister of Pakistan to bring the law
and order situation in Liyari under control. The
kids want to go to school, aged parents have to
be taken to hospital, but they find it unsafe
to venture out.
The gang members should be brought to justice.
Not too long ago, Lyari had a vibrant folk culture
marked by night-long sittings on pavements and
along narrow lanes and merrymaking. Concerts celebrating
weddings and other joyous occasions often continued
into the small hours. Weekends were enjoyed by
both the elderly and the youth: the former spent
their time in idle chit-chat while the latter
played a lot of sports. But all this seems to
have changed. Now the local people live in daily
fear of violence from hooligans belonging to two
hostile gangs, determined to fight pitched battles
on the streets of Lyari. Roads and streets start
to wear a deserted look immediately after sunset.
Few residents hold concerts at weddings. Instead
of eating out or having their evening tea at roadside
restaurants, most people stay indoors in fear
of their own life.
The two gangs have been employing all sorts of
criminal techniques - target killing, indiscriminate
firing and daylight robberies - to secure a monopoly
over drug-pushing in the locality. Apart from
small-time gangsters who often get killed in terrorist
ambushes, many residents have been caught in the
cross-fire. Quite a few locals have been gunned
down on suspicion of being informers of police
or of a rival gang. In addition to robbing bus
passengers at gun-point, the gangsters also obtain
money by extortion.
They do not only force traders and shopkeepers
to pay what is referred to as protection money
in police jargon, they also get common citizens
constructing their houses or holding weddings
to part with large sums of cash. As expected,
the worst hit section of the population is the
youth. A lack of employment and recreational opportunities,
along with the easy availability of drugs and
weapons, makes them fall prey to a hateful crime
culture. Little wonder, then, that most of the
gangsters and victims of target killing are jobless
young men. The gang war has been going on for
quite some time.
The casualties are regularly reported in the press.
But neither the Rangers nor the police force has
succeeded in rounding up the gangsters and bringing
them to justice, thus lending strength to the
impression that the criminals are more powerful
than the custodians of law. Tsunami Tragedy and
Our Awesome God By Omar Luther King Pitampura,
Delhi, India The question, 'What evil did the
victims of the tsunami disaster do to deserve
God's wrath?' comes to my mind when I read your
daily reports. That painful question seems to
haunt everyone these days, and it certainly demands
an answer.
I personally think that no man on earth has done
anything worthwhile to deserve God's grace, love
and mercy, and that all of us (not excluding you
and me) fully deserve His wrath. Besides, neither
you, nor I, nor anybody else can contribute to
our salvation from God's wrath, which we have
incurred by our sinful acts. I have become a staunch
believer of an ever-loving, ever-forgiving and
indeed a prayer-answering God because I have realized
that I am the most irreligious, if not the wickedest
person on earth.
I have learned the hard way from my personal experience
and can vouchsafe that along with unwanted burdens
and unexpected tragedies come undeserved blessings
and peace beyond imagination. We will stop grumbling
and questioning, 'Why is God allowing this to
happen?' when we start counting the blessings
- such as health, wealth and wisdom - that God
showers on us daily.
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