KARACHI: Additional Inspector General (AIG) Karachi Azad Khan addressed the city’s business community on Tuesday during a high-level meeting with industrialists at the Federal B Area Association of Trade and Industry (FBATI), highlighting critical law enforcement challenges, urban infrastructure deficits, and updates on major criminal investigations.
Addressing the gathered traders and industrialists, AIG Khan sounded the alarm over an escalating drug epidemic in the metropolis.
He revealed that organized narcotics syndicates are aggressively targeting educational institutions, explicitly aiming at school and college students.
Speaking on organized crime and public safety, the Karachi police chief emphasized that while transnational extortion and kidnapping syndicates present an ongoing challenge, police operations face no geographic boundaries.
Transnational Crime: Multiple extortion and kidnapping-for-ransom gangs are currently operating remotely from foreign soil, utilizing international networks to target local business owners.
Elimination of No-Go Areas: AIG Khan reaffirmed that there are no longer any “no-go areas” within Karachi, with intelligence-based operations being executed across all districts without exception.
Anti-Encroachment Strategy: A new integrated framework to curb rampant illegal encroachments is being rolled out, with pilot operations launching in District Central before expanding citywide.
Transit Deficits & Safe City: Attributing traffic congestion to severe public transit shortages, Khan noted that over 4.6 million motorcycles and rickshaws currently saturate Karachi’s road network. He acknowledged that the long-delayed Karachi Safe City Project has hampered technological surveillance capabilities.
Update on the Mir Raza Ali Murder Investigation
Touching upon high-profile homicide cases, AIG Azad Khan directly addressed the ongoing investigation into the murder of young IBA student and entrepreneur Mir Raza Ali.
He assured the public and the business community that the specialized investigation committee is conducting a strictly objective probe.
“The investigation committee in the Mir Raza Ali case will make decisions grounded purely in empirical facts and forensic evidence, rather than emotion or speculation,” Khan stated, adding that multi-disciplinary teams are actively gathering and analyzing physical, technical, and circumstantial evidence.
