According to a senior government official a new force, that consists of trained and young police commandos, has been launched after a batch of 200 personnel with 100 motorbikes started patrolling Karachi’s South district.

Eventually, the watch force will be expanded to other districts. For now, they have been deployed in areas of Defence and Clifton.

“In the first phase we have brought a team of 200 police commandos with 100 motorbikes. They are being deputed in Defence and Clifton in the South district,” said Karachi police chief Dr Amir Ahmed Shaikh. “They have completed their training and passed out recently. According to our plan, we keep the force under the command of the area SP. The force will be in touch with the police helpline — Madadgar 15.”

He hopes and believes that the watch force would prove and make a difference to eradicate street crime.

Karachi police, alongside Sindh Rangers, have successfully improved the city’s security standards to a major extent by confronting threats from terrorist attacks to street criminals associated with political groups. After the successful operation launched back in Sept 2013, peace has been restored in the city.

Unfortunately, street crime still exists in the metropolitan, which is a challenge for law enforcement and security agencies.

“In a few areas like Defence and Clifton we are arming the members of the force with small weapons like 9mm pistols and not with AK-47 assault rifles,” said Dr Shaikh. “At the same time, we are bringing reforms at the grass-root levels where we are identifying officers and policemen suspected of their connections with criminals at the police station level.

“We have already taken action against more than 100 such officials and more will face the same fate. Our drive against street crime carries a multipronged strategy and once all of them are channelized, a positive change would be visible to everyone,” he added.

This is not the first time a motorbike police force has been launched in Pakistan to rid the street criminals. In Punjab, a bike force called “Dolphin” is utilized to maintain the law and order situation.