PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: Four activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were killed in an encounter near Northern Bypass on Thursday night, said the Rangers in a statement issued on Friday.
This is the first time since the Karachi operation began two years ago that the paramilitary force has admitted to killing political activists in an encounter. Rangers officials said that the suspects killed were involved in the targeted killing of their own party's legal aid committee member in broad daylight.
The Rangers' spokesperson claimed that the encounter took place when their troops conducted an operation over the presence of criminals involved in the targeted killing of advocate Syed Ali Hasnain Shah Bukhari, who was gunned down in Korangi on March 4. One of the cases Bukhari had been working on before his death was a missing persons' case on behalf of the MQM.
"The criminals resorted to indiscriminate firing at the Rangers troops," claimed the spokesperson, as he spoke about Thursday's encounter. Rangers men retaliated, killing four criminals after an exchange of fire, he said.
Their bodies were shifted to the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth where their families identified them on Friday. The suspects were later identified as Shahid Ghulam, Zohaibullah and Muhammad Adeel. The fourth suspect's body remained at the morgue as it has yet to be identified. Sources have identified him as Kashif Khalil, an MQM worker, but this has yet to be confirmed officially.
A statement issued by the Rangers revealed that, in addition to the killing of Bukhari, the suspects were involved in numerous cases of target killings and the attack on a bus carrying police commandos in Chakra Goth.
Later, the MQM held a press conference in which it announced that the suspects belonged to the party and they were killed in an 'extrajudicial' manner. However, Rangers officials termed the claims 'baseless propaganda' and labelled the party's allegations an attempt to mislead everyone.
"These four criminals had been hiding in safe houses at the behest of the MQM's high command," the Rangers' spokesperson clarified. "They were involved in the targeted killing of advocate Hasnain Bukhari."
Following the deaths, the MQM announced a day of mourning across the country, urging traders to shut their businesses and transporters to remain off the roads.
"The claim by the Rangers that the men were killed in an encounter is false," said Dr Farooq Sattar. The Rangers had first claimed that the men belonged to a banned outfit and later made them target killers, which exposes the law enforcement agency's brutalities, he said. He added that the workers killed were arrested by the Rangers months ago and petitions against their arrests were filed in the Sindh High Court soon after their disappearance. Adeel and Shahid Ghulam were arrested on April 1 and Adeel's petition was filed on April 2, Zohaibullah was arrested in May and a petition was filed against his arrest on May 25.
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