Karachi's Safety Ranking Climbs Amid Declining Crime Rates

Karachi, one of world's fastest growing megacities, has seen its crime index ranking improve dramatically from 6 in 2013 to 50 in 2017, according to a survey of 327 world cities conducted by Numbeo.  Karachi was ranked 47 in 2016.  Reduction in violence is helping revive Pakistan's economy, making it the third fastest growing trillion dollar economy among the top 25 world economies by purchasing power parity.

Comparison to Major Cities:

Creek Vista, Karachi, Pakistan
In South Asia region, Karachi, now ranked 50, is safer than Bangladeshi capital Dhaka ranked 18 and the Delhi suburb of Gurgaon ranked 40.  Delhi is ranked 60, Lahore 138, Mumbai 160 and Islamabad 226.

Karachi is also safer than American cities of Detroit, MI (17),  Baltimore, MD (20), New Orleans, LA (21), Albuquerque, NM (27), St. Louis, MO (30) Oakland, CA (33) and Milwaukee, WI (46).

The year 2013 marked the beginning of the deployment of Pakistan Rangers in Karachi to fight rampant extortion, terrorism and violence by armed gangs patronized by some political parties.  Evidence suggests that some of the politicians involved had links to Indian intelligence.

Impact on National Economy: 

Reduction in violence in Karachi is helping revive Pakistan's economy, making it the third fastest growing trillion dollar economy among the top 25 world economies by purchasing power parity.

In a recent article titled "Pakistan Keeps Terrorists on the Run and Economy on a Roll", leading Japanese publication Nikkei Asia Review reported from Karachi that the negative perception of "terrorism, corruption, misrule" are "becoming  outdated, and businesses are taking notice... thanks to sweeping operations by the army and a powerful paramilitary force".  Here's a more extended excerpt of the Nikkei story:

"The Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary law enforcement organization overseen by the military and the Interior Ministry, set out to tackle the violence head-on. In 2013, the Rangers Sindh -- which operate in Sindh Province, including Karachi -- mobilized 15,000 troops. The provincial legislature granted them broad powers to search homes and make arrests, enabling them to quickly turn the tide. In 2017, there were zero bombings and only five kidnappings, according to Saeed, who serves as director general of the Rangers Sindh. This is no small feat in a city with a swelling population of 17 million -- perhaps even 20 million if migrants from rural areas are factored in. "We destroyed all of the terrorists' pockets," he said, adding that hotel occupancy rates are over 90%."

Summary: 

Karachi, one of world's fastest growing megacities, has seen its crime index ranking improve dramatically from 6 in 2013 to 50 in 2017, according to a survey of 327 world cities conducted by Numbeo.  Last year, Karachi was ranked 47. Reduction in violence is helping revive Pakistan's economy, making it the third fastest growing trillion dollar economy among the top 25 world economies by purchasing power parity.  As the country's largest city and its financial capital and economic hub, a safe and healthy Karachi bodes well for Pakistan's future. The Pakistani military has played a crucial role in securing the nation's future by bringing peace to Karachi.

Here's a video of a Karachi mall:

https://youtu.be/KeKmj28m2-c



Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Gangs of Karachi

Gangster Politicians of Karachi

Karachi is World's Fastest Growing Megacity

Karachi's Human Development Index

Pakistan Rising or Failing: Reality vs Perception

Pakistan's Trillion Dollar Economy Among top 25

MQM-RAW Link

Comments

Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan works to clean up Karachi, once world's 'most dangerous city'
Hollie McKay By Hollie McKay | Fox News

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/06/06/pakistan-works-to-clean-up-karachi-once-worlds-most-dangerous-city.html

KARACHI, Pakistan – In the once terror-teeming city of Karachi on the coast of Pakistan’s Sindh province, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is a name some hold in esteem.

“We learned from New York. The zero-tolerance policy and the application of the rule of law – that nobody is above the law – was key,” Muhammad Zubair, the Governor of Sindh and former Chairman of the Pakistan Privatization Committee, recently told Fox News, referencing Giuliani’s 1990’s crime clampdown in New York. “Karachi was so bad for two decades with warlords in the streets and a mess so deep that foreigners wouldn’t even come here for a day. And our number one, proudest achievement today has been turning Karachi around.”

The violence in Karachi was in a league of its own. The megacity – stuffed with around 25 million inhabitants and infamous as the place the Taliban captured and beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl in 2002 – seethed with drug smuggling, kidnapping, extortion and daily bomb blasts. Sectarian street clans waged war with hardline Islamic gangs, and it was commonplace for elected political parties to also have their own armed militia wing.

In 2013, Karachi ranked – as per the World Atlas – as the sixth most dangerous city in the world. Other rankings had it even higher. But by 2018, it was listed past 50th. So what was the magic bullet?

“In 2013, I made the economic plan and a major part of that plan was doing whatever was possible from a law and order standpoint,” Zubair explained. “The Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Army Chief knew that a brutal operation was the only way out of this mess.”

Pakistani officials decided that instead of using military units or the then-relatively weak local police force, the roughly 30,000-strong Karachi paramilitary security apparatus known as the Rangers would lead the charge. Although they had been in effect since the 1990s, the Rangers had little legal authority to use force. But laws were quickly amended, and officials embarked on a campaign to drum up full support from the federal government to guarantee that the Rangers would be issued the necessary personnel and weaponry to “undertake whatever was needed.”

By September 2014, Operation Karachi was locked, loaded and finally ignited. Karachi was divided up into “defense phases” to carry out the meticulously planned operation, of which eight phases have since been completed with a ninth phase to be announced soon.

“Our plan was not rocket science. We did what was needed. People were being killed day after day and the perpetrators were getting away with it,” Zubair said. “On 10 minutes notice, the whole city could be shut down, with people running to their homes amid the burning and looting. This was going on year after year, dozens of times a year. But for the first time in 2016, Karachi was not shut down a single time. That trend continued in 2017.”

Today in Karachi, students huddle in coffee shops by the seaside, and sneak prohibited beer and hookah into trendy clubs and restaurants. There is a renewed vigor for everything from mass-scale cricket matches to theater performances, film festivals, traditional dancing and cultural pursuits.
Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan’s first-ever Venice Architecture Biennale pavilion is all about cities
And how complex and dynamic the country’s can be
By Ian Volner Jun 6, 2018, 1:45pm EDT

https://www.curbed.com/2018/6/6/17422574/venice-architecture-biennale-2018-pakistan-pavilion

Somewhere between the Olympics and the world’s biggest, baddest, design-school pin-up lies the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Every two years, a few dozen nations deputize a small circle of curators and thinkers to represent them at the show; many of the participating countries are regulars, with permanent pavilions of their own, often dating back to the early 20th century, and located in the leafy Giardini della Biennale near Venice’s easternmost tip.

But each edition of the exhibition also brings a batch of wildcards, never-before-seen entrants whose homelands have decided, for whatever reason, to throw their hats into the ring. This year, first-timers included Guatemala, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon. And social media (full disclosure: mine included) took a special shine to the premier outing from the Vatican, a brace of inventive freestanding chapels by architects both well- and lesser-known.

There was one rookie nation, however, whose appearance at the Biennale was especially poignant, both for the character of its installation and for the mere fact of its being in Venice at all: Pakistan.

“This is a very political statement,” says Salman Jawed, a member of Coalesce Design Studio, the collaborative, multidisciplinary firm that helped bring the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to Venice for the first time.

The politics he’s speaking about are not, at least at first, overtly evident: Situated in a small public park not far from the Giardini, the Pakistani installation, titled “The Fold,” is a roughly four-yard-square cage of irregularly-spaced steel bars towering some twenty feet in the air.

Slipping into this rather forbidding envelope via a narrow passage, the visitor discovers a playground-like atmosphere within, a trio of wooden swings dangling from overhead beams, and a pair of wooden benches on curved, brushed-steel rockers. The contrast between stern exterior and playful interior gives a pleasant jolt. But understanding its polemical intent requires a little more digging.

As Coalesce partner Zeba Asad explains, in Karachi, “all the urban spaces are in the street.” The Pakistani capital is home to over 21 million people, most of them jammed into a relatively small wedge of the metropolis, with little room for parks, plazas, or other urban amenities.

Seen from one perspective, “The Fold” is an attempt to address this condition: The placement of the swings at odd angles means that users are constantly at risk of colliding with their fellow swingers, just as the children of Karachi must hazard cars, pedestrians, and one another as they play in the city’s crowded streets.

The rocker-benches perform a similar maneuver, obliging the sitter to negotiate with anyone beside them so that neither will slide sidelong into the dirt should their neighbor stand up. As a metaphor, the installation is at once a teasing critique and a tongue-in-cheek celebration of Pakistan’s jostling urbanism, giving exhibition-goers a taste of Karachi without sparing them its vexing particulars.

Stepping into a swing herself, Asad demonstrates its operational logic. “You have to go forward for me to move back,” she says. “We have to talk to each other or it would be a disaster.”

Not just an urban critique, the installation also makes a broader case for dialogue, compromise, and coordinated action at every political scale: The globe, no less than Karachi, is a crowded place, and the designers identify patterns and prescriptions that could apply to either, layering a second metaphor atop the first.
Riaz Haq said…
Sindh govt join hands with World Bank on various projects worth $10bn

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/10/02/sindh-govt-join-hands-with-world-bank-on-various-projects-worth-10bn/

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that his government’s policy is very clear. He is working for transforming governance economic growth, sustainable development and human capital development. “I am committed to achieving these goals through accountability to the core of government, encouragement of economic growth, liberalisation of the agriculture sector and through strengthening population management and early childhood development,” he said.

Several projects including Karachi Neighbourhood Improvement project worth $86 million, in which the provincial government has to put in $14 million to start the project, Karachi Urban Management (KUM), a $200 million project, Karachi Urban Mobility project worth $400 million, Karachi Water and Sewerage project worth $640 million also came under discussion. These three projects had needed some provincial government approvals and to finalise investment plan to start the project.



KARACHI URBAN MANAGEMENT PROJECT:

The World Bank has proposed $200 million for Karachi Urban Management Project. The chief minister said that the objective of the project is to enhance urban management service delivery of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and other districts metropolitan corporation (DMCs).

The proposal is to provide performance-linked block grants to six DMCs and KMC for local level infrastructure and municipal services. A capital development grant was proposed for KMC for flood management and rehabilitation of urban drainage infrastructure.

The chief minister directed P&D Chairman Mohammad Waseem to call a joint meeting of local bodies and secretary local government to finalise the KUM Project so that necessary recommendation could be firm up for final approval.

KARACHI URBAN MOBILITY PROJECT:

The World Bank proposed $400 million for Karachi Urban Mobility. The project is aimed at improving urban mobility, accessibility and road safety in Karachi. Under the project, the WB would construct Yellow Line corridor, including the development of infrastructure rehabilitation and BRTs construction system.

The chief minister approved the project and directed P&D chairman and Transport secretary to move forward with the project by completing all the required formalities and also sends the concept paper to Economic Affairs Division.

SINDH WATER & AGRICULTURE TRANSFORMATION & RESILIENCE PROJECT:

The goal of Sindh Water & Agriculture Transformation & Climate Resilience project is transforming water management and agriculture production towards higher levels of water productivity and improve climate resilience. The WB has proposed $300 million and the provincial government share would be $150 million.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that under project rehabilitation of canal system on the right of Dadu and Rice Canal and on the left bank of Akram wah, Ghotki Feeder and the Fulleli system would be made. He also added that under the project advance irrigation reforms have been proposed and masterplans for the monitoring system of right bank barrages would also be evolved.

TRANSFORMATION AND REVITALISATION OF THE FISHERIES SECTOR PROJECT:

Transformation and Revitalisation of the Fisheries Sectors (TRFS) will cost about Rs150 million. The chief minister said that the goal of the project was to transform and revitalize fisheries and aquaculture by improving management, competitiveness and community.

The project would introduce sustainable management systems, including spatial planning, vessel registration and licensing and data management. The chief minister said that under the project private sector participation would be incentivized and would build value chains. He added that the project also aims at improving nutritional food security and livelihoods for women and families and strengthening institutions.
Riaz Haq said…
Can a revival in #Karachi spark change in #Pakistan? #Violence is declining sharply, but poor basic services plague businesses. #water #sanitation #Transport https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Cover-Story/Can-a-revival-in-Karachi-spark-change-in-Pakistan

https://www.riazhaq.com/2018/09/can-pti-help-fix-pakistans-financial.html
Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistani to make #Netflix original series debut with Omer Shahid Hamid's The Party Worker. “A story based in #Karachi's #political/#mafia past. In fact there is a novel by Omer Shahid Hamid on it: the party worker.” #MQM #Killing #Extortion https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/450564-pakistan-to-make-its-netflix-debut-with-omer-shahid-hamids-the-party-worker

Pakistan is now making its debut on Netflix with an original based on the work of well reputed Pakistani author Omer Shahid Hamid.

The 42-year-old writer who is also currently serving as a police officer announced on Twitter that he has already signed a film or series deal with the streaming giant for his acclaimed book The Party Worker.


The author publicized the news while a few curious souls on Twitter were discussing what Pakistan’s Netflix original would be like if there was one.

Responding to the tweet was a user who brought the attention to Hamid’s novel: “A story based in karachi's political/mafia past. Infact there is a novel by omer shahid hamid on it: the partyworker.”

Jumping in on the conversation was the ecstatic writer who wrote: “Funny you should mention it. Just signed a film/series deal for #ThePartyWorker #netflixherewecome.”


Omar Shahid Hamid
@omarshamid
Funny you should mention it. Just signed a film/series deal for #ThePartyWorker #netflixherewecome #ifallelsefailsHumtvzindabad

Rafia Jaffar
@RafiaJaffar
Replying to @SudrishK
A story based in karachi's political/mafia past. Infact there is a novel by omer shahid hamid on it: the partyworker

206
3:21 AM - Mar 29, 2019
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Hamid’s book The Party Worker is cautiously divided into chapters dedicated to each character of the book that deliver their own perspectives and give birth to varying consequences to the eventual truth.

The book is set amidst the chaos and violence that lingers in the air of Karachi.
Riaz Haq said…
#Karachi vice: Meet #Pakistani cop who channels #police stories into gritty #crime novels. Cop Omar Shahid Hamid is one of #Pakistan's most popular English-language authors.His father was killed by a notorious hitman, his partner was murdered by #Taliban. https://gn24.ae/8627f21f6eba000

Personal tragedy haunts the hard-boiled novels that are turning top cop Omar Shahid Hamid into one of Pakistan's most popular English-language authors.

For nearly two decades Hamid has worn a badge in Karachi, the mega port city on the Arabian Sea that for years was rife with vicious political and extremist violence.

Now a deputy inspector general, he is also fast becoming one of Pakistan's most recognisable writers, publishing four books in quick succession since 2013.

His work has even nabbed the attention of major streaming outlets on the hunt for new original material from South Asia, including Netflix, which has already seen major success with similar material in TV series such as Sacred Games, about Mumbai's corrupt underworld.

Hamid said the secret to his success is his unflinching accounts of political corruption, contract killers, and crooked cops alongside nuanced portraits of Karachi's divided neighbourhoods.

"Books like mine wouldn't work if I pulled punches," he tells AFP.

"It's that grittiness, that uncompromising reality that I think a lot of readers enjoy."

At times the reality has hit dangerously and heartbreakingly close to home.

Hamid did the bulk of his writing while he was on sabbatical after being advised to leave Karachi and take a break from policing in 2011 when he was threatened by Islamist groups.

Close to reality
Weeks after the release of his first novel "The Prisoner", his mentor and police partner Chaudhry Aslam - the inspiration for one of the book's protagonists - was killed in a Taliban-claimed suicide blast.

In his third novel "The Party Worker", Hamid portrays the rise of a brutal hitman who killed at the behest of a fictional political party ruling the city with an iron fist.

For Karachi insiders, the character mirrors the life of feared hitman Saulat Mirza, who served as the feared enforcer for the once-powerful Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party - and whose list of victims include Hamid's own father, Shahid.

"It's less a thing of making a sketch of Saulat Mirza," explains Hamid, calling the character a "sketch of a particular type of young man... who kind of in the last 30 years or so essentially gave their lives away to these ideologies thinking they were doing the right thing."

The goal is not to excuse such actions, he insists.

"Understanding the motivations of someone is a positive tool if you're someone who has worked as an investigator in counterterrorism for a very long time," says Hamid.

"What he has written is fiction but it's very close to reality," says Faheem Siddiqui, Karachi bureau chief for Geo News.

"As a crime reporter, I know what had happened in the city. It took a great deal of courage to write about these events."

Hamid's plots go beyond his own losses to appear at times like thinly disguised retellings of the seismic moments that have rattled Karachi in the last 30 years - from the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 to the killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's brother Murtaza.

Dangerous city
Once a quiet port nestled on the Arabian Sea coastline, Karachi was transformed by the flood of refugees from neighbouring India after partition in 1947, setting the stage for disputes that needle the metropolis to this day.

Years later the port became a conduit for weapons, narcotics, and a new flood of refugees from war-torn Afghanistan, transforming politics and ratcheting up violence to make Karachi one of Asia's most dangerous cities.

"

Riaz Haq said…
#India ranked number 5 among the world's top 20 most #dangerous countries, according to InterNations's latest Expat Insider Survey, a comprehensive report on what it’s like to live and work abroad in 64 countries around the world. https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2019/09/05/20-most-dangerous-places-to-live-2019/#6c4f8d497022

1.🇧🇷 Brazil
2.🇿🇦 South Africa
3.🇳🇬 Nigeria
4.🇦🇷 Argentina
5.🇮🇳 India
6.🇵🇪 Peru
7.🇰🇪 Kenya
8.🇺🇦 Ukraine
9.🇹🇷 Turkey
10.🇨🇴 Colombia
Riaz Haq said…

Incomplete roads in #Pakistan's #economic hub #Karachi — the biggest city in #Pakistan and the third-largest in the world — show what happens when a megacity becomes a political orphan. Karachi ranks as having the worst public #transport system globally. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-11-02/pakistan-s-megacity-tries-to-modernize

Karachi was once well connected by a circular railway but corruption and mismanagement in the transportation sector brought the city to a grinding halt in the late 1990s, according to Adam Weinstein, research fellow at the Washington D.C.-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Many of the railway tracks have become illegal slums with people moving from smaller towns to earn more.

“Karachi has yet to find a humane way to address land encroachment that stymies development and relocate people without incurring immense political blowback,” said Weinstein.

--------------

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Road has always had its share of traffic, but lately the main thoroughfare that connects central Karachi to its major port is in a state of near constant gridlock.

An elevated street eats up two of the road’s three lanes, but it’s empty — part of an incomplete project to create express lanes for public buses that was supposed to finish three years ago. It’s one of many towering structures scattered throughout the Pakistani city that were part of the latest plans to bring a modern transportation to Karachi, one of the world’s fastest-growing cities and the third-biggest by population.

Karachi ranks as having the worst public transport system globally, according to a 2019 study by car-parts company Mister Auto that looked at 100 major cities. It serves about 42% of Karachi’s commuters, relying on decades-old, overcrowded buses that use the roof as a second deck for passengers at times. Roads are filled with potholes, not all traffic signals are automated, and it’s common to see drivers running red lights. And yet the former capital is home to Pakistan’s main ports and the regional headquarters for companies such as Standard Chartered Plc and Unilever Plc, helping it generate half of the nation’s tax revenue.

-------------

“Karachi, despite its importance, is a political orphan,” said Arsalan Ali Faheem, a consultant at DAI, a Bethesda, Maryland-based company that advises on development projects. “The federal government is limited in what it can do, and the city government controls less than a quarter of the city. It means that Karachi’s problems belong simultaneously to everyone and no one.”




--------------------

“If cities can provide quality infrastructure, it by default increases productivity,” Uzair Younus, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said by phone. He’s the host of the “Pakistonomy” podcast and a former Karachi resident. “An administrative setup that is unable to provide decent mass transit to the largest city in the country will always be viewed with skepticism.”
Riaz Haq said…
Interesting trivia: #Karachi’s population in 1901 was 115,000 and total #trade volume that year was Rs 180 million. Main #exports: wheat, cotton & wool

https://twitter.com/haqsmusings/status/1336157085172596736?s=20
Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistan's armed #police pop their rollerblades on to catch #Karachi's street criminals. Gliding in a circle with their weapons pointed inwards, and lifting and lowering the guns in unison, the 20-member unit clad in black undergoes rigorous training. https://reut.rs/3kdDWAy

Police in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, are deploying an armed rollerblading unit to curb theft and harassment on its teeming streets.

Gliding in a circle with their weapons pointed inwards, and lifting and lowering the guns in unison, the 20-member unit clad in black undergoes rigorous training.

“We felt we needed to come up with an innovative approach to control street crime,” said Farrukh Ali, chief of the unit, explaining that officers on rollerblades could more easily chase thieves on motorcycles through the city of 20 million.

Ali conceded that rollerblading police could not be deployed across many parts of Karachi due to the poor road conditions and uneven footpaths, but said they would be sent to public places with a higher incidence of theft and harassment.

“This is just the beginning,” said Aneela Aslam, a policewoman on the unit. “This rollerblading will really benefit us. With this training, we can reach narrow alleys very quickly where it is usually difficult to go.”

Safety concerns were raised when initial footage of the Karachi unit’s training showed officers carrying heavier weapons, but Ali said the unit would only carry handguns, reducing the risk of bullets richocheting.

The rollerblading police - who follow in the footsteps of similar units in Europe and elsewhere - are expected to begin officially next month, but they were recently spotted outside the venue of the Pakistan Super League cricket tournament.

And they have already begun patrolling Karachi’s bustling beachfront.

“Seeing them here in clean uniforms since the morning gives us a sense of security, as even in daytime, snatchings occur here,” said pedestrian Muhammad Azeem.
Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistan's #Karachi among 10 stressful cities to live in based on governance, environment, finance & security. Karachi ranks at number 93 on the list, which is slightly better than #Baghdad (Iraq) at 94, #Kabul (Afghanistan) at 95 & #Moscow (Russia) at 96 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/pakistans-karachi-among-top-10-stressful-cities-to-live-in/articleshow/83980860.cms

Pakistan's Karachi has been named among the world's top 10 most stressful urban centres to live in, according to a list by a German company VAAY.

A media report said that the index is curated by analyzing 15 major stress indicators, which include governance, environment, finance and security. The list claims cities are chosen for their size and significance as well as for the availability of comparable and reliable information.

The cities with the most stressful social, environmental and economic conditions make it to the bottom while the most stable and happy ones top the list.

Karachi ranks at number 93 on the list, which is slightly better than Baghdad (Iran) at 94, Kabul (Afghanistan) at 95 and Moscow (Russia) at 96.

On the other hand, Iceland's serene capital, Reykajavik, tops the list as the least stressful city, followed by Bern (Switzerland), Helsinki, (Finland), Wellington, Melbourne, Oslo, Copenhagen, Innsbruck (Austria), Hannover (Germany) and Graz (Austria).

The ranks of other major international cities are Sydney at 19, Abu Dhabi at 28, Toronto at 30, Singapore at 33, Tokyo at 34, Berlin at 36, Chicago at 40, Rome at 42, Los Angeles at 45, Washington at 47 and more.

Saudi Arabia's Riyadh is placed at 77, while Shanghai is at 83, Tehran at 86, Bangkok at 87, Cairo at 88 and Istanbul at 90.

The selected cities are not necessarily the most and least stressful cities in the world; instead, they were chosen for their global comparability, a media report said.
Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistan to launch 911 #emergency helpline PEHEL (Pakistan Emergency HELpline) across the country. https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/single-emergency-helpline-911-to-be-launched-in-pakistan-1.81867246

Different emergency numbers will be merged into one hotline

Islamabad: The Pakistan government is set to launch an all-in-one emergency helpline 911 to swiftly respond to call for help across the country.

Different emergency numbers will be merged into one hotline called Pakistan Emergency Helpline (PEHEL). The idea is to launch a service similar to the 911 helpline in the United States.

The project is being implemented by the National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) and the Digital Pakistan initiative of the IT ministry. NTC, which is responsible for providing secure and reliable telecommunication services to government organizations, is spearheading the initiative to help the citizens in distress. The software applications are being developed by NTC and the National Information Technology Board (NITB).

The dedicated emergency response number can be dialled to avail different services including police, ambulance, and other rescue and support so that the citizens will not have to go through different helplines during emergencies.

The decision was taken in the wake of the horrific rape incident at Lahore-Sialkot Motorway in September 2020 in which the victim failed to get any help through the motorway helpline. The incident prompted Prime Minister Imran Khan to launch a dedicated hotline to prevent such crimes and offer citizens immediate help during the emergency situation.

Khan had asked the PM Delivery Unit (PMDU) to complete work on the emergency helpline by December 2020. However, the launch of the pilot project in Islamabad is expected to take another two months. The testing of the service has been completed. The operations would initially begin at Safe City Islamabad.

The PEHEL 911 service would offer a “unified and one-window access to all emergency services” in Pakistan, according to IT Minister Syed Aminul Haq. The IT ministry will provide technical support and infrastructure and the interior ministry will ensure the smooth....
Riaz Haq said…
The I.S.I. also reported that it caught sight of R.A.W. operating in Karachi, infiltrating the Mujahir Qaumi Movement (M.Q.M.), the political party founded by Muslims who migrated from India after Partition. In the 1990s, the M.Q.M. leadership, facing multiple murder and extortion allegations, fled into exile in the U.K. and South Africa. In both places the British security services and the R.A.W. went to work recruiting, including the R.A.W. chief Samant Kumar Goel, seen by the I.S.I. as the most aggressive and capable Indian conduit in the Karachi operation. A window into this world opened-up after a brutal murder in Edgware, in North London, in 2010. Dr Imran Farooq, 50, an M.Q.M. leader, was ambushed walking home, and repeatedly stabbed and bludgeoned with a brick. During the inquiry that followed Scotland Yard detectives were told in sworn witness statements that millions of dollars was delivered by the R.A.W. to the M.Q.M. via diplomatic missions in Vienna and Johannesburg.246 When India required chaos in Karachi, M.Q.M. was paid by Lodhi Road to make it happen in a mirror of B. Raman’s equivalence operations. •


Levy, Adrian. Spy Stories: Inside the Secret World of the RAW and the ISI (pp. 215-216). Kindle Edition.

Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistan( #48) ranks ahead of #India (#60) among 121 countries in Gallup Survey of "Secure Countries". #Singapore tops, #Afghanistan last. Overall, countries in East #Asia, the #MiddleEast and North #Africa showed a positive trend. #safety #LawAndOrder https://indianexpress.com/article/world/worlds-most-secure-countries-gallup-polls-countries-list-8232540/

https://news.gallup.com/poll/403937/global-progress-safety-confidence-police-stalls.aspx

India ranked 60th of 121 countries in the Gallup Law and Order Index for 2021, scoring 80 on an index that ranges from 1 to 100, with a higher score indicating that more people in a country feel secure. Singapore ranked the highest with a score of 96, while Afghanistan was at the bottom of the list with 51.

Tajikistan, Norway, Switzerland and Indonesia were ranked in the top five after Singapore, while Venezuela in South America and Sierra Leone, Congo, and Gabon in Africa were among the bottom five.

Pakistan ranked 48th in the list, recording a score of 82, on par with Laos, Serbia, Iran and New Zealand.

The United States, Italy, and Germany all scored 83, while Australia scored 84, and Canada 87.

The polls found that as many as seven in 10 people globally feel safe walking alone at night where they live and have confidence in their local police. The report said that overall, the security metrics have remained stable between 2020 and 2021.

The annual Gallup survey interviewed around 1,27,000 persons over 15 years of age, in more than 122 countries and areas in 2021 and early 2022. In each country, around 1,000 respondents participated via telephone or face-to-face. Without explaining the methodology, Gallup said the index is a composite score based on the responses to four questions to measure their sense of security and faith in law enforcement.

The questions are as follows: 1) In the city or area where you live, do you have confidence in the local police force?; 2) Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?; 3) Within the last 12 months, have you had money or property stolen from you or another household member?; 4) Within the past 12 months, have you been assaulted or mugged?

As per the report, 71% of the respondents said they felt safe walking alone at night where they lived and 70% said they had confidence in their local police. Additionally, 11% said they had property stolen from them or other household members in the past year, and 6% said they had been assaulted or mugged.

Overall, countries in East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Latin America and the Caribbean showed a positive trend in their answers.

Countries like the United States, Canada and Western Europe, which have seen several protests against the police and government, unsurprisingly showed a downward trend in their responses to queries on faith in local police. In 2020, for instance, prior to the George Floyd killing, 82% of respondents in the US said they trusted the police. In 2021, this number fell to 74%.
Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistan( #48) ranks ahead of #India (#60) among 121 countries in Gallup Survey of "Secure Countries". #Singapore tops, #Afghanistan last. Overall, countries in East #Asia, the #MiddleEast and North #Africa showed a positive trend. #safety #LawAndOrder https://indianexpress.com/article/world/worlds-most-secure-countries-gallup-polls-countries-list-8232540/

https://news.gallup.com/poll/403937/global-progress-safety-confidence-police-stalls.aspx


Gallup Global Law and Order rankings (not full list):
Singapore — 96
Tajikistan — 95
Norway — 93
Switzerland — 92
Indonesia — 92
United Arab Emirates — 92
Canada — 87
Japan — 86
France — 85
Australia — 84
United States — 83
Italy — 83
Germany — 83
Iran — 82
Pakistan — 82
New Zealand — 82
Sri Lanka — 80
India — 80
Iraq — 80
United Kingdom — 79
Bangladesh — 79
Russian Federation — 77
Brazil — 71
Sierra Leone — 59
Republic of the Congo — 58
Venezuela — 55
Gabon — 54
Afghanistan — 51
Riaz Haq said…
India scored 80 points on the table, below its neighbours Pakistan and Sri Lanka with a marginal difference but was placed above the United Kingdom and Bangladesh.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/these-are-5-most-and-least-secure-countries-on-gallup-s-law-and-order-index-101666841222013.html

Gallup's Law and Order Index 2022 - a report by global analytics firm Gallup -- has positioned Taliban-captured Afghanistan as the least secure country for the third year. Region-wise, the report has declared East Asia as the most secure while Southeast Asia came second to it. Gallup’s survey which takes into consideration four questions to gauge “people’s sense of personal security and their personal experiences with crime and law enforcement” said it has interviewed about 127,000 people in over 120 countries to compile the list.


The five most secure countries on Gallup’s index

Singapore 96
Tajikistan 95
Norway 93
Switzerland 92
Indonesia 92
The five least secure countries on Gallup's index

Sierra Leone 59
DR Congo 58
Venezuela 55
Gabon 54
Afghanistan 51

India scored 80 points on the table, below its neighbours Pakistan and Sri Lanka with a marginal difference in points but was placed above the United Kingdom and Bangladesh. As per the reports, Southeast Asia was home to the largest gains in confidence - due to contributions from Singapore and Indonesia’s improved police services.

Afghanistan which maintained the lowest score in the last two surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019 too (survey was not conducted in 2020 due to pandemic) - improved its score relatively due to a drop in violence following the end of the Taliban’s insurgency as it had completed the takeover from US troops. The report also said that North America and Western Europe have lost ground mainly due to people’s falling confidence in the police, especially after the high-profile police shootings including the killing of George Floyd which sparked a racial injustice movement.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/403937/global-progress-safety-confidence-police-stalls.aspx

Riaz Haq said…
Survey ranks India 5th most dangerous country to live in the world: Top factors that weighed down ranking
Among the top findings of the survey are that India comes in the top 10 countries for personal finance, expats with full-time jobs in India work 3.8 hours per week more than the global average, and 83% of respondents rate the quality of the environmentally negatively.

https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/survey-ranks-india-5th-most-dangerous-country-to-live-in-the-world-top-factors-that-weighed-down-ranking/1698399/

India has been ranked as the fifth most dangerous country in the world for expats. In a survey — Expat Insider 2019 — that covered and interviewed people who live and work abroad, India has been placed at 60 of 64 countries on safety and security. According to the survey which was conducted by InterNations, over four men in ten respondents reported negative feelings about the peacefulness in the country and 27% were displeased with their personal safety — three times the global average of 9%.

“A US American expat, for example, does not like “always having to keep my guard up — as a female, I don’t feel safe. As a resident, I often feel taken advantage of at work and outside work,” the survey said.

The expats also rated negatively to the question of political stability in India. “Almost double the global average (32% vs 17% worldwide) rate the political stability of the country negatively. An Australian expat shares that ‘politics has become hardline, and there are social tensions’,” the survey found.

Riaz Haq said…
Sindh CM inaugurates headquarters of Rescue 1122 in Karachi

https://www.nation.com.pk/23-Dec-2022/sindh-cm-inaugurates-headquarters-of-rescue-1122-in-karachi

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah inaugurated the headquarters of Rescue 1122 established in cooperation with the World Bank in Karachi on Friday.

Addressing the ceremony on the occasion, Syed Murad Ali Shah said Rescue 1122 service is already working in Karachi, Larkana, Thatta, Sujawal, Qambar-Shahdadkot and Hyderabad districts and from tomorrow it will also start working in Badin as well.

He said that Rescue 1122 emergency service has been established under World Bank Sindh Resilience Project.

The Chief Minister Sindh said that ambulance service, fire service, urban rescue and search service, water rescue service will be provided in Karachi city under this service.

He said that the rescue service will be started at main roads and highways every after 50 kilometers to ensure provision of immediate services to the people in emergencies in the province.
Riaz Haq said…
Sindh government launched Emergency service Rescue 1122 from Karachi 



https://www.radio.gov.pk/31-05-2022/sindh-govt-launches-rescue-1122-service-in-karachi



Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah inaugurated the service.

The service is aimed at providing immediate medical aid to people and shifting them to hospitals in emergencies.

Initially, fifty ambulances have been provided for the service which will be increased to 230 across the province.

The service will be initiated in other Divisions and districts in the second Phase.
Riaz Haq said…
From #Karachi with love: exploring #Pakistan’s annual #flower show run by Pak #Horticulture Society at Karachi Boat Club: Big-headed yellow marigolds; purple & white stocks & annual carnations displayed with a distinctive style.
https://www.ft.com/content/862f41d1-1b47-4e17-91b8-54fbaaceb427



I have just been exploring links forged by flowers in dry south Pakistan. I was there on separate business, my life-long object of study, Alexander the Great. In 326-325BC he conquered his way down the Indus river valley, but he never planted a garden. He banned a curved fruit that was new to the Greeks and was thought to be upsetting his soldiers’ stomachs. It was probably a banana. Obedient to Alexander I never eat bananas.



Between lectures on his legend and localised study of his campaign, I have explored aspects of their setting, all new to me, and noticed how joined-up gardening links us to Pakistan. I was set on my path by a tree.

In the exclusive Karachi Boat Club, a fine old tree surveys the lawn, beautifully groomed for the members’ benefit. On its trunk a notice proclaims: “I have closely witnessed the evolutions of the upper middle classes of this metropolis for more than a century.”

If trees could talk, what would the plane trees in Berkeley Square be telling us about changes in London’s high society?



“Music and the playing of military bands,” the tree’s notice continues, “reminds me of the RAJ ERA when such parties were most prominent.” The tree is a bodhi tree, like the one under which the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.



Seeking sociological enlightenment, I looked at the gardening round the club’s lawn. Postcolonial petunias; big-headed yellow marigolds; purple and white stocks and annual carnations were displayed with a distinctive style: single plants of each had been planted in a painted clay pot, and then the pots were massed by the dozen to make lines and curves.

In the paved courtyard of the Gymkhana club in Hyderabad, plants in individual pots are banked up into a circular centrepiece which is a blaze of colour. I watched while the club’s gardeners took each pot to a tap in order to water it. At home I sometimes plant a spare petunia in a single pot, but it never reaches such a diameter. I need to give it some Pakistani care.

Admiring these bright variations on mere flowerbeds, I widened my social survey. I went to a popular gathering, the Pakistan Annual Flower Show, run by the Horticulture Society of Pakistan. As it began in the first spring of Pakistan’s existence, this year is its 75th anniversary. For three days, visitors flocked to Seaview and the AK Khan park, which commemorates Abdul Karim Khan, a founding genius of the show in 1948.

What a delight to see plants in profusion, packing individual nurseries’ tents and spilling out on to the grass while a military band played favourite Pakistani tunes. The show occupies a space that measures up to the Royal Hospital site of London’s Chelsea Show and the crowds are as dense as on any of Chelsea’s days. So much is on sale throughout, from excellent foliage plants to roses, including a superb flat-petalled crimson and a prizewinning red with white streaks called Double Delight.

Nurseries have joyful banners on their tents: “we do rockeries and manures” or “we are the Blossoming Nursery for rented plants”. Orange awnings brighten the scene, lit with those mainstays of Pakistani staging, lines of bare lightbulbs.

----------

Much of the audience was middle class: how have flowers’ uses evolved elsewhere in society? Outside Karachi I was securely escorted to a great evening occasion, a Friday celebration at the famous shrine in the westerly town of Sehwan. It is the resting place of the 13th-century Sufi saint, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, and is a place of pilgrimage from far and wide.

Inside, red-robed dancers twirled to the beat of hand drums before thousands of packed spectators, entranced by the music and the rhythms, boys and men in the front, girls and women in the side chapels.

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