Law and [dis]order: Korangi mob sets on fire two suspected robbers

Both men struggling for their lives at Civil hospital’s burns ward.

KARACHI: “Ya Allah take my life,” were the words a suspected robber kept repeating as an ambulance rushed him to the hospital.

On Saturday afternoon, this man – later identified as Shahzad Asghar — and accomplice Abdul Rehman Khan were severely beaten up and then set on fire after a mob in Korangi neighbourhood caught them red-handed. In a one-and-a-half-minute video recorded by witnesses on a mobile phone, Asghar is seen repeatedly yelling for death. His wishes are answered later on Saturday evening when he succumbed to his wounds at Civil hospital.

At least three armed men on a motorcycle came to a general store in Korangi No 1.5 and attempted to snatch cash and other valuables. The storekeeper, Muhammad Ahmed, put up resistance. “They shot me and injured me when I resisted and started shouting to attract the attention of other people,” said Ahmed. “One of them opened fire which attracted other people, who managed to catch them,” he added.

One of the suspected robbers managed to escape under the cover of fire but Asghar and Khan were caught by the mob. Some people carried iron rods and sticks as they punched and kicked the suspects. “Kicks, punches whatever they have, they were using to beat them up,” said a witness. “When they became tired of beating them, someone started shouting to burn them alive.”

Another witness recalled that the robbers were lying on the road when some people poured petrol over their bodies. “They were shouting ‘Do not burn’ but no one was there to help them,” he said.

By the time Korangi police arrived, the suspects were severely burnt. “It was very difficult to rescue them because everyone was angry and could start beating us,” said Korangi police station SHO Abdul Majeed. “The crowd was demanding we kill them and we had to take them away by assuring the mob that we will kill them.”

The police shifted the two of them via ambulance to the Civil hospital burns ward, where the doctors said their condition was critical. “They are still alive but hardly as they are severely burnt and beaten,” said an official in the burns ward. “But we are trying our best to save their lives.”

The police found out that both the suspects were residents of Korangi.

Not the first case

This was not the first such incident to have occurred in the city where the mob has reacted violently many times before. The first major incident took place in 2008 when the mob killed two alleged robbers in North Nazimabad.

A few days later, another similar incident took place in Nishter Road area, where three young men who were accused of being looting an apartment were caught by the mob and severely tortured and then set on fire. Two of them died at the spot while the remaining one later died during treatment.

Need to lessen aggression

According to experts, such behaviour results from frustration. “Some people become aggressive in frustration and some become depressed,” said physiologist Anila Amber Malik. “As there is no justice, the frustrated people are fighting for their own survival and they react where they get an opportunity.” She urged the need for the government to provide justice for all.

In such cases, the police need to register a case against those who turned violent but the law enforcers hardly do so. SHO Majeed said, however, that for Saturday’s incident, a case will be registered against the mob before they make arrests.

“In some cases, the police themselves give a freehand to the crowd but, most of the time, the police are also helpless in front of a violent crowd,” said a senior police officer.

In the aftermath of such incidents, there is a rise in case where snatchers kill and escape before the crowd is able to catch them, he added.

Giving the example of the Nishter Road incident, he said that was not an incident of robbery. It was a personal enmity case that people took advantage of, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2016.