Addl IGP fails to form team for arrest of murder accused
PHOTO: FILE
An evidently unprejudiced police investigation keeps evading the closure of the triple murder case reported in Dadu district in January 2018, in which an influential politician has been named as a suspect.
On Saturday, Sukkur additional inspector general of police (IGP) Dr Kamran Fazal excused from forming a team for arresting the murder accused, citing his preoccupation with the police operation against dacoits in katcha areas of river Indus.
"... that we have started an operation against the notorious dacoits in the katcha area of Sukkur region," the additional IGP wrote in a letter addressed to the Sindh IGP. "This operation might take a few months and will be undertaken by many districts' [police] in the region simultaneously," he stated.
The additional IGP further informed the IGP that the ongoing operation required massive mobilization in terms of manpower and logistics. "In view of the foregoing, it is submitted that the undersigned will not be able to spare time to fully justify the requirements in your mentioned order." He went on to point out that the incident had happened in Dadu district which fell in the jurisdiction of Hyderabad additional IGP. "... it would be in the best interest of justice that such a team for apprehension of the proclaimed offenders should be headed by the additional IGP Hyderabad region," he wrote.
On October 21, 2020, Sindh IGP had directed the additional IGP to constitute a team of police officers to arrest the proclaimed offenders booked in the murder FIR at Mehar Police Station in Dadu district.
Advocate Ume Rubab Chandio, daughter of one of the slain persons who is pursuing the case, keeps accusing the ruling party in Sindh for backing those involved in the murders.
Her father, Mukhtiar Chandio, grandfather, Raees Karamullah Chandio, and uncle, Kamil Chandio, were shot dead by armed men in Ahmed Colony, Mehar taluka, on January 17, 2018.
The lawyer has accused Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Nawab Sardar Khan Chandio, his brother, Burhan Chandio, and other associates in the FIR.
Earlier this year, the Sindh High Court (SHC) transferred the jurisdiction of the case to an anti-terrorism court on the request of Ume Rubab. However, the accused persons challenged the judgment in the apex court, which annulled the SHC's order in July this year.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2020.