A senior lawyer today described Karachi as a ‘crime capital’ facing an unprecedented administrative and social collapse, demanding an urgent Rs1 trillion emergency package to rescue the city’s failing infrastructure. Advocate Farhan Javed Memon, a leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Insaf Lawyers Forum, asserted that those in power have offered only “hollow claims” while the city”s core systems disintegrate.
Speaking to the media at the Sindh High Court, Memon highlighted an alarming water crisis that forces residents to purchase water from tanker mafias at exorbitant prices. He attributed the long-standing issue to years of political delays hampering the crucial K-IV water supply project.
The city”s daily life has been paralysed by dilapidated roads and chronic traffic congestion, he stated. The advocate lamented the absence of effective traffic management, noting that citizens are instead burdened with heavy e-challan fines while widespread encroachments continue to constrict major thoroughfares, worsening mobility.
Memon painted a grim picture of public safety, claiming that street crime is rampant. He said the routine snatching of mobile phones, cars, and motorcycles has become commonplace, with police appearing unable to take meaningful action against perpetrators.
The sanitation and sewage systems have also completely failed, according to the advocate. He pointed to visible garbage piles in nearly every union council and described how the metropolis transforms into a “pool of sewage” during rainfall.
The prominent lawyer identified corruption, favouritism, and political interference as “the root cause of every major problem in the city,” contending that these factors have crippled the entire administrative structure.
In response to the crisis, Advocate Memon called for the immediate formulation of an emergency plan, spearheaded by the release of a Rs1 trillion mega package for infrastructure rehabilitation. He urged the government to introduce non-political reforms to improve water supply, sanitation, traffic management, healthcare, and the performance of law-enforcement agencies, affirming that the Insaf Lawyers Forum would continue its legal and public struggle for the rights of Karachi’s citizens.