Encounters: Law enforcers kill six suspects, families protest their innocence

All six suspects were allegedly associated with the Sohail Dada group of Lyari gangsters.

KARACHI: Two suspects were killed in an alleged encounter with the police in Malir City while the bodies of two alleged gangsters, who had apparently been abducted by law enforcers, were found from Memon Goth, on Wednesday. Meanwhile, another suspect was killed in an alleged encounter in Rizvia locality.

According to police officials, the encounter took place when the police, acting on a tip-off, conducted a raid at the gangsters’ hideout in Salar Goth. The deceased were later identified as Shan alias Shani and Arif alias Billa. Police officials said that the deceased, Shan, was a former worker of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi and Arif was a resident of Kalakot, Lyari. They added that both the suspects were associated with the Sohail Dada group of Lyari gangsters which operates in Malir. Police officials also claimed to have recovered two weapons from their possession.

Separately, the bodies of two more suspected gangsters associated with the Sohail Dada group were found from Memon Goth. SHO Naeem Khan said that both persons were shot and killed after having been kidnapped. The deceased were later identified as Mohammad Asif, a resident of Daud Goth and Aman alias PMT, a resident of Ghazi Goth.



Meanwhile, the two alleged members of the Sohail Dada group who were killed on Tuesday in an alleged encounter with the law enforcers in Memon Goth were identified as Gul Rehman and Muhammad Ali, on Wednesday.

Following the killings, their families staged a protest on main National Highway and blocked the flow of traffic on both sides of the road. The protesters claimed that all six persons were killed after having been kidnapped by law enforcers. “All of them were first kidnapped by the law enforcers and later killed in fake encounters,” said one of the protesters. “There should be an independent inquiry into the encounters and law enforcers should be punished for killing innocent people.”

The protest ended after a large contingent of law enforcers reached the site and dispersed the protesters by firing teargas shells. According to the police, all of the deceased were involved in a number of cases of crime.  Meanwhile, a suspected criminal was killed during an alleged encounter by Rizvia police. Police officials said that two suspects were trying to flee after looting passengers on a bus. They added that the suspects were attempting to flee in a rickshaw when the police chased them.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2014.