KARACHI: Pakistan’s major business hubs of Karachi and Lahore saw a marked improvement in law and order over the past year, with a notable decline in serious and street crimes, according to the Security Survey 2025 conducted by foreign investors operating in the country.
The annual assessment by the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) — representing more than 200 multinational firms — found that both crime levels and employee security perceptions improved significantly between June 2024 and May 2025. The report said Karachi and Lahore recorded the sharpest drop in major crimes, while the overall business environment across Sindh and Punjab strengthened.
The survey’s findings come amid a renewed surge in militant attacks across Pakistan in recent months, particularly in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and parts of Balochistan, where Pakistani security forces have been battling an uptick in insurgent violence and cross-border militancy.
“The security environment has shown improvement across business operations in 2025 compared to 2024,” the OICCI report said, noting that Karachi and Lahore recorded the most visible progress while the southwestern Balochistan province, wracked by a decades-long insurgency, remained a concern.
