Daily Times

KARACHI: Police arrested dozens early Sunday morning during its ongoing crackdown against reckless motorcycle riders, vehicles with tinted windows, vehicles without registration papers, illegal cars and the public display of weapons.

Police officials set up check-points in and around Sea View and phase 8 of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and conducted snap checking of vehicles on all routes.

Police officials said they have arrested 28 people for not having vehicle registration papers; while 35 were held for one-wheeling and having tinted windows on their vehicles. SSP South Javed Akbar Riaz said that they have arrested around 100 people involved in street racing in the last two days.

During his visit to Sea view, Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal said that street racing, and one-wheeling is banned in the city. He also appealed to parents to keep their children in check for anti-social activities like street racing and drug use.

While talking to media at Sea View, he said that a social media team has also been formed to address complaints with regard to one-wheeling and police will also take action against mechanics who modify vehicles for street racing and other stunts.

Siyal visited the area a week after a scuffle between a motorcyclist and a teenaged car driver led to an exchange of fire which resulted in the killing of the latter and his friend near phase 8’s Do Darya area.

Following the incident, Siyal had visited the victim’s home and directed police to ensure a transparent and unbiased investigation into the matter and also announced Rs 50,000 as an award for police team that arrested the suspects.

Defending the police force, Siyal said several US cities have a higher crime rate than Karachi, adding that Karachi’s population is higher than of several countries. Meanwhile, police also held Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Faisal Vawda for riding in a vehicle with tinted windows and having no registration papers.

Vawda said that he could not provide the registration documents as the vehicle was his friend’s, adding that he assumed the tinted windows were supposed to be like that. Vawda said that police should focus more on stopping those who are “killing on the streets”.

Published in Daily Times, December 11^th 2017.