Alleged injustice: Villagers claim police opened fire, killing 4

Residents of the village claim that their rivals bribed the police.

SUKKUR:

Hundreds of angry residents of Ali Sher Janwari, carrying four bodies, protested at the high court bench in Sukkur on Tuesday morning, demanding the authorities register a case against the police officers, including Sukkur DPO Aitizaz Goraya and Rohri DSP Qalab Abbas Shah.

Four Janwri clansmen, including a young boy, were killed during an exchange of fire with the police on Monday morning. They were identified as Mohammad Khan Janwri, Abdul Samee Janwri, Ali Haider Janwri and the boy Fayaz Janwri.

Dhani Bux Janwri, the elder brother of deceased Mohammad Khan, told The Express Tribune said early Monday morning, a heavy contingent of police led by Goraya  and Shah raided and cordoned off their village, Ali Sher Janwri. According to him, police opened firing without any provocation, killing two villagers, Abdul Samee and Fayaz, on the spot, while Fayaz Ali was injured and died at Civil hospital on Monday night.

He added that the police raided the houses, manhandled the women and children. He claimed his brother Mohammad Khan, Mohammad Ismail, 9, Mohammad Ibrahim,10, and both sons of Mohammad Sharif Janwri went missing. The body of his brother Mohammad Khan, with his hands tied behind his back, was recovered from Patni Shakh.

The deceased’s wife Khadija alleged the same. Brushing aside the police’s claim that the villagers had first opened fire at them, she said that policemen would have been killed or injured not the clansmen, had this actually been the case. She said that men from their rival clain, the Shaikhs, had bribed the police to carry out the killings. She lamented that Janwris and Shaikhs have been at war for nearly seven years and so far ten people from the either side have been killed.

Advocate Karim Bux Janwri told The Express Tribune that Justice Salman Ahmed took notice of the protest, summoned the DPO and ordered him to register an FIR against the accused policemen. The additional DPO, Nazir Gujar, assured this would be done. However subsequently, advocate Karim Bux Janwri said that they they had gone to Kandhra police station but the police refused to take their case because of the DPO’s involvement. He claimed that the additional DPO, while sitting at Kandhra police station, said that the FIR will be be only registered on the condition that the complainants do not implicate the DPO. The advocate said that he would file a constitutional petition on Wednesday morning. He said that on Monday night, the DPO had sent two officers to the Janwaris, forcing them to register a case against the Shaikh men instead of the police, yet the elder clansmen refused to comply. According to him, the police were also ready to reconcile the matter with them.

Rohri DSP Qalab Abbas Shah had a different take on the story. “The Janwris are mostly criminals and any one living in their area can attest to this,” he told The Express Tribune. He claimed that the police raided the village to arrest the culprits involved in Shaikh-Janwri dispute and other crimes.

The DPO was not available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2011.