At least 32 vehicles snatched in each district during August

A Report based on Crime Statistics Collected from 76 DPO offices across Pakistan in August 2011

Hurt, attempted murder and murder most widespread in the country 

ISLAMABAD, November 15: On average, 32 FIRs of vehicle theft and snatching were registered in each of the 76 districts the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) monitored in August this year.

Every month FAFEN’s Governance Monitors collect statistics of FIRs registered for 27 offences falling under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) from the offices of District Police Officers (DPOs). In August, the monitors visited 76 DPO offices – 29 in Punjab, 17 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 16 in Sindh, 13 in Balochistan and one in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

The monitoring report said of all the FIRs, 55% pertained to other crimes, 21% to property crimes, and 13% to crimes involving physical harm to people, 9% to threat and fraud and 3% related to crimes against women. A regionwise break-up showed almost 73% of the total FIRs were registered in Punjab, 19% in KP, 6% in Sindh, 2% in Balochistan and 1% in ICT.

It said crimes of theft, motor vehicle theft, robbery and dacoity and motor vehicle snatching were the most widespread among property crimes in 60, 48, 47 and 44 districts respectively. The report said the highest number of FIRs for theft (723), motor vehicle theft (683), and robbery and dacoity (376) were reported in Lahore while the most cases for motor vehicle-snatching (152) were registered in Faisalabad. Region-wise, 91% of all 7,724 property-related FIRs were registered in Punjab, followed by 4% in Sindh, 2% each in KP and ICT and 1% in Balochistan.

Violent crimes like hurt, attempted murder and murder were reportedly most widespread as 71, 70 and 69 districts reported 4,324 FIRs for these offences. Together these three crimes constituted 93% of all the FIRs of physical harm registered in 76 districts. Overall, 67% of FIRs of crimes involving physical harm were registered in Punjab, 20% in KP, 8% in Sindh, 4% in Balochistan and 1% in ICT.

However, the report added that the relatively higher number of cases in Punjab may be attributed to its large population, willingness of the people to have FIRs registered, better police response and to the greater outreach of FAFEN monitors. Similarly, fewer cases being registered in regions like Balochistan do not necessarily mean a low crime rate. This may be attributed to limited outreach of FAFEN, victims opting not to have cases registered, unavailability of infrastructure or perhaps to people’s tendency to resolve their conflicts through informal structures like Jirgas.

Another reason for low reporting from Balochistan could be that police jurisdiction is restricted to areas administratively classified as ‘A’, which are normally cities or suburbs, whereas Levies control the ‘B’ category regions comprising rural tribal areas in various parts of the province.

Ninety-three per cent of the FIRs registered nationwide for crimes of threat and fraud were reported in Punjab, 3% in KP and 2% each in Sindh and Balochistan. An overwhelming 83% of the total FIRs for crimes against women registered in August were reported in Punjab, 7% in Sindh, 6% in KP and 2% each in Balochistan and ICT.

Attempted murder topped the list of most widespread crimes with 1,110 FIRs reported in 71 of the 76 monitored districts followed by hurt, murder, theft and motor vehicle theft reported in 70, 69, 60 and 48 districts respectively.