With nowhere to turn, street children in Pakistan easily get trapped in a life of sex, drugs and AIDS.

Living in Karachi today is nothing short of a nightmare.

Five weeks of bloody violence and anarchy, five bomb blasts, 60 plus people killed, hundreds injured, banks and private properties looted, several dozen cars gutted – and investigators are still groping in the dark.

If the Tasman Spirit disaster had taken place in any other civilised country of the world, a few heads would have rolled and a massive clean-up operation launched.

The month of July began on a nightmare note, with a ruthless attack on a Quetta imambargah that left 50 dead and hundreds wounded in its wake.

General Ayub polled 97.7 per cent votes in his referendum. General Zia-ul-Haq polled an equal number. So if General Musharraf paralleled the record set by his erstwhile comrades, it should come as no surprise.

While burglaries have become a routine feature of Karachi life today, they have a chilling new twist. If the pickings are lean, there is no saying what the dacoits are liable to do.