Hundreds of traders staged a protest demonstration on Friday against increasing incidents of extortion in the city and demanded of the government to provide the businessmen with complete security. "The government indifference to the matter has encouraged the criminals to freely demand extortion and assault traders on refusal," said All Karachi Tajir Ittehad Chairman Muhammad Atiq Mir.
"Today, some outlaws visited the markets after Zuhr prayers and hander over extortion slips to every trader, threatening them of harsh consequences if they failed to make the payment," said a marble trader of Pak Colony market. He said if traders refused to pay them, the criminals used other tactics including abduction against huge ransom. "Abduction of traders is also a rising trend and in some cases the abductees are also killed," he said.
The traders of around five markets of Pak Colony were facing the menace and the government seemed disinterested in taking action the extortion mafia, another trader said. "The market administration is helpless against the criminals due to lack of the government backing," Atiq Mir said. He said the extortionists had badly affected the trade and business activities in the city, which he added was shrinking with each day.
Mir said the government had no security strategy against the powerful clan of outlaws, who were not only plundering the businesses but had also killed many innocent people. He said that there should be a co-ordinated effort to make Karachi a crime-free city of the country.
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