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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Pakistan
Index
Part of the responsibility for the deterioration of
police
performance has been a widespread increase in the amount
of
crime. New kinds of crime have developed--especially
related to
illegal drugs--and criminals have substantially greater
firepower
(see Narcotics
, this ch.). Since the war in Afghanistan,
Pakistan
has been awash with guns. Kalashnikov automatic weapons
have
become ubiquitous and may be rented in Karachi on an
hourly
basis. In Karachi criminal violence, especially kidnapping
for
ransom and, in effect, open warfare among political
groups,
rendered the city so dangerous that in May 1992 the
military had
to be called in to launch Operation Cleanup to apprehend
criminals and terrorists and to seize unauthorized
weapons.
Criminality extends into all levels of society. Known
criminals
have ties to political figures and are able to frustrate
legitimate attempts to enforce law and order. In early
1994, the
army was still activity involved in law enforcement in
Sindh.
Crime statistics are reported but cannot be considered
reliable. Throughout the 1980s, there appeared to be an
incremental increase in the number of crimes reported each
year.
According to the Pakistan Statistical Yearbook,
1991, from
8,000 to 20,000 murders or attempted murders, 3,500 to
6,000
kidnappings or abductions, 100 to 600 robberies, and
120,000 to
250,000 other crimes were reported annually between 1981
and
1990.
Data as of April 1994
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