PHOTO: REUTERS
Police sources in Khairpur claimed that Thari Mir Wah police, led by SHO Ghulam Qadir Jatoi, were on routine patrol on Monday night when three suspects, who were hiding in the bushes, opened fire at them. The police retaliated and, as a result the suspects, Aslam Gopang, Mukhtiar Gopang and Khaliq Dino Gopang, were injured. All three suspects were arrested and shifted to Civil Hospital, Khairpur, according to police sources.
After receiving news of his son’s injury, Saen Bux Gopang, father of Mukhtiar Gopang, died, which led to his relatives staging a protest with the body and blocking the Thari-Bozdar Wada Road. The relatives of the accused, including Mir Mohammad, Noor Hassan and others, told journalists that two days ago Aslam, Mukhtiar and Khaliq Dino were travelling to the Khairpur court for a hearing of a case regarding a land dispute, when police arrested them and shifted them to an undisclosed location. The relatives claimed that after keeping the men in custody for two days the police injured them and tried to pass the incident off as an encounter.
On Wednesday, AIG Abbasi reached Khairpur and held a meeting with Khairpur SSP Azfar Mahesar and then left for Thari Mir Wah, where he will record the statements of the police officials involved in the encounter as well as the accused. Asghar Thebo, personal staff officer to the Khairpur SSP, confirmed AIG Abbasi’s visit and told The Express Tribune that he is currently recording statements. Talking about the encounter he claimed that all the injured persons are involved in many cases of crime, registered against them at Thari Mir Wah and other police stations. “If the police arrested these persons two days ago, then why did their relatives fail to inform the SSP about the matter?” he questioned.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2016.
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