‘Fake’ encounter: Another life cut short

Police shot and killed 17-year-old Atiq mistaking him and his injured friend as ‘robbers’

KARACHI: Since he was a kid, Saeed Atiqullah’s dream had been to serve in the security forces, be it the police or the Rangers. He wanted to protect his country but his ambitions never saw the light of day as a bullet from one of the same forces he vied to join took the teenager’s life.

Atiqullah was killed when he, along with his cousin, 19-year-old Azizullah — who was injured in the incident —, allegedly did not stop at a police checkpoint which led the police to open fire. The victims were en route to a learning centre near NIPA chowrangi on their motorcycle late Friday night.



“The police tried to intercept us but they opened fire [from a close range] before Atiq could stop the motorcycle,” narrated the injured Azizullah from his hospital bed, where he is struggling for life. “The bullet, while piercing my body, hit Atiq near his heart, killing him on the spot,” he said.

The deceased and injured were taken to Jinnah hospital for autopsy and treatment, from where the injured was moved to Liaquat National Hospital.

The ill-fated 17-year-old was a second-year student at the Rangers Cadet College, Karachi. “He was so impressed with the forces at his passing out parade, held this August, as the Rangers DG had attended it,” his cousin, Imdadullah, told The Express Tribune.

The deceased, whose father was a businessman, used to live with some family members in Kaniz Fatima Society so he could attend the cadet college, while the remaining family members lived at their hometown in Pishin, Balochistan. Aside from getting an education from the Rangers Cadet College, Atiq was also completing an English language course from a private learning centre in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.

The injured, Aziz, recalled that after the incident, the police immediately took their college identification cards and notebooks and hid them. Later, the police placed a pistol with Atiq’s body and narrated the incident as an encounter to their bosses, he alleged.



However, the alleged encounter turned out to be a fake when it was established that the deceased was a cadet and not a criminal, which forced the high-ups to take action against the cops involved.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and IG Allah Dino Khawaja had also taken notice of the incident, with Khawaja directing a transparent inquiry of the incident and an order to detain the two policemen involved in the encounter, identified as Bandal and Zafar, until the investigations are completed.

Innocence established

Meanwhile, the investigation, which has since been completed, suggests that both the victims were innocent and had no criminal records. Even the weapon that the police claimed to have recovered from their possession was not owned by either of the two.

The detained policemen, however, while continuing to defend themselves, say they opened fire on suspicion of the boys being robbers. “They were intercepted but they did not stop and tried to escape,” claimed one of the detained policemen, according to officials involved in the investigation.

This is not the first time that such an incident has occurred in the city. Nearly half a dozen innocent people, particularly youths, have lost their lives in fake encounters, particularly by police, in various parts of the city since the Karachi operation was launched in September 2013.

Although many policemen have been found guilty of shooting and killing the wrong people in internal inquiries, no case has been registered to formally arrest them in any case. Atiq’s family too may never get justice as despite a ‘notice’ from the high-ups, the police have not cooperated with them to register a case.

“They [police] are ready to register a case but are intending to place sections such as unintentional murder in the FIR but we want a murder and attempt to murder charge with the relevant Anti-Terrorism Act clauses,” said the deceased’s uncle, Matiullah.



Meanwhile, Gulshan-e-Jauhar SHO Chaudhry Shahid claimed the police are cooperating with the family and placing the relevant sections in the FIR.

Controversial killings

A recent history of ‘encounters’

1. October 7, 2016

A Rangers Cadet College student, Saeed Atiqullah, was killed and his cousin injured in a fake encounter near NIPA Chowrangi in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.

2. July 11, 2016

A young man, Abrar, was shot dead as Counter-Terrorism Department’s personnel in civvies opened fire on a car during a fake encounter in Sindhi Muslim Society, following a scuffle with a mobile snatcher.

3. January 1, 2016

Police gunned down a student, Zakria, 25, in an alleged encounter in Gizri. He had returned from Malaysia after completing his education just six days before.

4. April 17, 2014

A murder case was registered against two policemen and a civilian for carrying out a fake encounter in Orangi Town in which two young men were shot dead on MPR Road in Orangi Town, within the limits of the Pirabad police station.

5. October 13, 2014

Forty-year-old Asad Khan was shot and killed in a fake encounter by the police near Five Star Chowrangi in North Nazimabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2016.