Ever since the Sindh government has announced strict lockdown measures in Karachi, due to the alarming spike in COVID-19 cases, the city has turned into a ‘police state’ under the Coronavirus SOPs.
After citizens posted videos of police personnel taking bribes, a case was registered against two policemen, including an ASI, who was involved in bribery during the lockdown.
Amid tight restrictions, law enforcement personnel find themselves in a position to make money easily. The Daily Times reported that police in suburbs like Lyari, Gadap, Ibrahim Hyedri, Qaida Abad, Banaras, Baldia Town, Sheerin Jinnah Colony, and the city’s slums have allowed local businesses to stay open till late at night.
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Karachi police are not doing this alone and are reportedly helping people bypass the government’s SOPs in collaboration with the local administration. Police and the local administration are said to have set an hourly rate for letting the business operate beyond 6 pm.
In Karachi’s slums, people are also allowed to move freely past curfew. Meanwhile, journalists trying to report the issue are thrashed by Karachi Police.
The All Karachi Tajir Ittehad Chairman, Atiq Mir, said:
“The provincial government has immensely disturbed the business community in the metropolis by imposing lockdowns to mint money through police and other departments in the guise of implementing COVID-19 SOPs. The Sindh government took businessmen and citizens hostage and turned Karachi into a police state.”
As small businesses struggle amid the lockdown and ongoing pandemic, people are resorting to bribing police to keep their shops open longer. According to the city’s electronic market association, the business has been reduced to 75 percent.
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Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) members of the provincial assembly (MPAs) strongly condemned the conversion of Karachi into a police state.
The Sindh MPAs demanded that the Home Minister, Sheikh Rashid, and Inspector General (IG) of Sindh Police intervene to stop the police. Chairman Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), Syed Mustafa Kamal, also accused government officials of abusing and extorting traders in the name of lockdown. He alleged police had been picking up traders, locking them up, and releasing them after extorting millions of rupees.
Whereas Chairman Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H), Afaq Ahmed, questioned why all COVID-19 related SOPs were being enforced in ‘only Mohajir areas’ as the localities on the outskirts of Karachi seem relieved of these restrictions.
On the contrary, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leader, Samir Mir Shaikh, said that the Sindh government seems to have completely failed to enforce COVID-19 SOPs. He also said that instead of implementing SOPs, policemen are busy collecting money from their respective areas. He, too, noted that only a few parts of the city are in lockdown.
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