Targeted deaths: Police commando shot in suspected honour killing

Wife and toddlers strangled in the attack.

KARACHI: A commando of the Sindh police’s Rapid Response Force (RRF), his wife and two children were found dead inside their home in Karachi’s Baldia Town neighbourhood on Sunday.

The commando was identified as Ramzan, 37, son of Ghulam Sarwar, an active duty cop in Sindh police’s RRF. He was posted to the Naval Colony RRF. Police reached the site when a neighbour alerted them to the incident. Residents claimed that the deceased cop hailed from Larkana and had married out of free will, running away to Karachi with his wife and moving to Baldia Town. Police investigators suspect that the victims may have been killed in the name of honour.

Ramzan’s body was found near the entrance of the house. He had sustained bullet wounds in the head and chest. His wife, Nadia, 28, three-year-old son, Asad and one-and-a-half year old daughter, Omaima, had been strangled to death. Though investigations are currently underway, it is believed that this is an honour killing.

Evidence suggests that Ramzan was shot as he opened the door of his house, the inquiry officer sub-inspector Arif Abbasi told The Express Tribune. “The attackers were likely known to the deceased cop and his family,” he said. The officer added that after dragging his body inside, the assailants forced Ramzan’s wife and children to the second floor of the house, where they killed them.

Police have obtained fingerprints from the crime scene to help trace the culprits. The bodies were moved to Civil Hospital, Karachi, and later taken to Islamabad for burial, where Ramzan’s family resides. No case has been registered yet.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2014.