Islamabad, Jan 4 (IANS) Police statistics have shown a decline in reported street crimes in Pakistan’s Karachi from 71,105 cases in 2024 to over 64,000 in 2025. However, the same official data underline the extent to which abnormality has become normal in the country’s largest city, a report said.
According to police data, 6,683 vehicles were hijacked at gunpoint in 2025, including 302 cars and 6,381 motorbikes, compared to 8,370 such incidents in 2024. As many as 39,934 vehicles were stolen in 2025, including 1,813 cars and 38,121 motorbikes, down from 43,382 in the previous year, according to a report published in the Business Recorder.
Phone snatching incidents continued to occur frequently across Karachi. As per the same data, 19,353 mobile phones were snatched in 2024, highlighting the persistent scale of street crime in the city.
An editorial in the Business Recorder noted that Karachi’s police statistics, released at the turn of the year, were intended to show improvement. While they do reflect a decline in reported street crimes from 71,105 in 2024 to over 64,000 in 2025, the same figures reveal what the editorial described as the real indictment of life in Pakistan’s largest city.
The editorial pointed out that more than 46,000 citizens lost their cars or motorbikes in 2025, while over 17,000 people were deprived of their mobile phones during the year.
“A ‘reduction’ that still leaves tens of thousands dispossessed at gunpoint or through theft is not a success story. It is a measure of how low the baseline has sunk,” the editorial said.
Experts have cautioned against drawing sweeping conclusions from a comparison of only two years, noting that official figures capture only what is recorded in police registers and not the full extent of crime. They flagged the absence of credible research and the lack of a holistic data ecosystem that includes inputs from other stakeholders such as paramedics and hospitals.
Without such comprehensive data, the report argued, the state ends up managing narratives rather than addressing crime on the ground.
Another editorial in the Business Recorder observed that underreporting is not merely a statistical anomaly but the outcome of fear and institutional incentives. When citizens anticipate harassment, delays, or refusal at police stations, many choose not to file complaints. At the same time, when police performance is measured by reductions in registered crime, the system quietly incentivises keeping cases off official records.
“The result is a city where the public cannot know the real scale of victimisation, and policymakers cannot design credible responses because they are working with partial, politically convenient numbers,” the editorial said.
It added that Karachi, as Pakistan’s principal port city and commercial hub, cannot afford unchecked street crime, as it imposes economic costs not reflected in police tallies, including higher security expenditure by businesses, disrupted logistics, reduced retail activity after hours, and the gradual flight of investment to safer jurisdictions.
–IANS
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