Different judicial magistrates across Karachi were busy processing the paperwork for the men who were rounded up by the police who cracked down willy nilly after the midnight ban was announced. Unfortunately, for the men who were arrested, the news had not reached in time.
The magistrates quashed cases against men who proved they were students. The courts declared that their arrests were illegal.
About 150 men were released on personal bonds and the remaining were set free after they furnished a surety of Rs5,000 each.
The Sindh home department issued an incomplete notification on the pillion-riding ban, which led to the arrests. According to the January 16 notification, pillion riding was banned from 12 am onwards. This notification failed, however, to clarify how it was to be implemented and who was empowered to arrest violators.
Before the year 2001, only a district magistrate or deputy commissioner had the authority to penalise people violating the ban. When a court pointed out this loophole in the notification, the home department was forced to issue another one on January 18, according to which Section 195 (1)(a) was imposed and station house officers at police stations were empowered to file cases.
Lawyer Nasir Ahmed told Daily Express that he would file a petition against the police and the home department for the illegal arrests of residents. He said that he had started collecting evidence to support his case.
Four more people gunned down
While this was going on, the killings continued. The bullet-riddled body of a young man was found from the roof of a private school in Korangi ‘K’ area within the jurisdiction of Awami Colony police station. The body was sent to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where he was identified as Shabbir, 35, son of Haji Abdul Qadir. Two empty shells at the crime scene suggested he was shot. The victim was a resident of Qadhafi Town and a labourer by profession.
Separately, 63-year-old Gul Hassan Magsi was shot dead in Juma Goth, Malir within the jurisdiction of al Falah police station. He lived there and was attacked on the way to a friend’s house. Magsi was from Balochistan and had recently arrived in Karachi.
Similarly, a young man was shot dead and two others were injured in an attack near Disco Bakery. The attack took place in Block 4 of Gulshan-e-Iqbal early Tuesday. The victim was identified as Hewand Khan, 23, and he was accompanied by friends Ehsan and Talha. They were sitting outside Ehsan’s house when the drive-by shooting took place. The men were taken to a private hospital where Hewand died. A security guard was shot dead in Federal B Area. The victim, 23-year-old Noor Mohammad, was on duty in Block 18 when men on motorcycles shot him and took off. He was shot twice. His body was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2011.
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