After 10 years of hiatus, Karachi police arrest killer of journalist Wali Khan Babar

Kamran has also confessed to killing witnesses in murder case, others, says Karachi police chief

KARACHI: Nearly a decade after journalist Wali Khan Babar’s murder, his killer was arrested by the Special Investigation Unit police and the Federal Investigation Agency in a joint operation in Gulshan-e-Maymar, revealed Karachi AIG Ghulam Nabi Memon in a press conference on Monday.

Kamran alias Zeeshan Shani, who had previously been convicted for Babar’s murder, was directly responsible for the killing, as he had been the one to open fire at the slain newsman, said Memon. Weapons used in several crimes, bullets and a hand grenade were confiscated from his possession.

Babar, aged 28, was shot dead in the Liaquatabad neighbourhood of Karachi while driving home from his office in the limits of the Super Market police station on January 13, 2011. The murder case was lodged the same day.

According to Kamran’s confession, the police chief said, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London's (MQM) South Africa chapter was involved in the murder of the slain journalist.

"Babar was killed because he was considered close to the Awami National Party (ANP) and would report anti-Altaf Hussain stories," he added.



Memon further said that the federal intelligence agency had provided a tip-off about Kamran’s whereabouts which led to his arrest by a special unit of the Sindh police.

Kamran reportedly confessed that he had joined the MQM in 2008 and committed his first murder in 2009. According to Memon, he also confessed to killing witnesses in Babar’s murder case, including key witness Haider Ali, killed in 2012, Rajab Bangali, killed in 2011, and others.

Further investigation and interrogation is underway, and more confessions and arrests are expected, the police chief added.

In 2011, a special Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) had handed down death sentences to two absconders and life imprisonment to four others found guilty of murdering TV reporter Babar.

The court had convicted two absconding accused, Faisal Mehmood and Kamran, to death sentences in absentia. Four co-accused – Faisal Mehmood alias Nafsiyati, Naveed alias Polka, Muhammad Ali Rizvi, Shahrukh alias Manni – were handed down a life term.