Arrested Kashmore ‘rapist’ shot dead by accomplice

Sindh govt seeks awards for ASI Buriro, his daughter for their bravery in rescuing child

HYDERABAD/ KARACHI:

The prime suspect arrested on charges of kidnapping and gang-raping a woman and her five-year-old daughter in Kashmore was shot dead in a police raid in Kashmore-Kandhkot on Friday evening, while in police custody.

According to the police, Rafiq Malak sustained a fatal gunshot wound fired by Khairullah Bugti, another suspect in the rape case.

The police said they raided a place near RD-109 area to arrest Bugti but he opened indiscriminate fire on the police. The law enforcers, who claimed that they took Malak with them to identify Bugti, arrested the latter and seized the weapon with which he shot Malak.

Wahab lauds ASI, daughter

Meanwhile, Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab lauded ASI Mohammad Bux Buriro and his daughter for “bravely and courageously” helping trace and arrest Malak.

Buriro’s daughter had assisted in luring Malak into a trap by acting as bait. The suspect had earlier released the victim, T*, telling her he would only let her daughter go if she brought him another woman.

Addressing a press conference, he announced that the Sindh government would write to the federal government, requesting the Quaid-e-Azam Police Medal for ASI Buriro and the highest civilian award for his daughter in acknowledgement of their brave feat. He said the police official would also be given a gallantry award by the provincial government.

Also appreciating the Sindh Police, he remarked, “ASI Buriro, led by Kashmore SSP, carried out the operation [for the arrest of the suspect] with great valour. I am short of words to pay tribute to this brave man.” He also saluted ASI Buriro’s daughter for her “exemplary courage and bravery.”

Sharing the details of the suspect’s arrest with media persons, he said ASI Buriro had immediately shifted T, who had approached him with the complaint of her and her daughter being sold and gang-raped, to his house. His daughter then talked to the suspects on the phone who called her to a park, where ASI Buriro, along a police party, arrested one of Malak, Wahab narrated.

“Tracing the gang would have been very difficult had it not been for Buriro’s bravery,” he remarked.

According to Wahab, Malak had given his statement under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code and confessed to the crime.

He said that T and her daughter were being treated at Civil Hospital, Larkana and assured that the Sindh government would make arrangements for the five-year-old girl’s treatment anywhere in the world if needed. “The government will also bear her educational expenses,” he added.

Wahab further stated, “As a nation, we will have to play our role in tracing and penalising criminals, as Buriro did. I urge the courts to mete out the strictest possible punishment to such criminals.”

Child protection bureau

Separately, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh strongly condemned the incident and demanded that the Sindh Child Protection Bureau be made active.

Talking to the media outside Sukkur Airport, he said the rape of a five-year-old girl was “extreme cruelty.”

“The culprits should be tried under the Zainab Act and making the Sindh Child Protection Bureau active is crucial,” Sheikh said, adding that growing number of child rape cases was worrisome.

Also lauding ASI Buriro, he remarked, “We are proud of him and he has set an example of humanitarianism.”

*INITIAL USED TO PROTECT IDENTITY