KARACHI: Rangers stormed the home of banned Peoples Amn Committee (PAC) chief, Uzair Baloch, in Lyari’s Singhu Lane as they continued to sweep Karachi in search of target killers and miscreants.
“They broke TV sets and furniture during the raid, and even misbehaved with Uzair’s family,” claimed PAC senior leader Zafar Baloch. “Uzair Baloch was not at home.”
Zafar Baloch condemned what he termed as the Rangers harassing the innocent people of Lyari during their search operations. According to Zafar, dozens of suspects were rounded up by the authorities in the 13-hour long operation. “We are not against an operation against criminal elements. But one should maintain the sanctity of someone’s home during such raids,” he said.
A large number of Lyari residents protested against the operation and demanded that the arrested people be released, and they were. Out of the 250 suspects, only eight remain in custody. Baloch said Zulfiqar Mirza has been informed about the situation. “However Mirza Sahab is busy with the floods in his hometown of Badin.”
The Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, local police and law enforcers searched at least 18 areas and said that they found a huge cache of weapons from Lyari while the Baldia Town police recovered over 1,000 CNICs from a sack lying near the nullah in Sector 4-D. SHO Asad Mangi said that the stolen CNICs would be handed over to the National Database and Registration Authority. Mangi said that the CNICs may have been dumped in fear of the search operations and they were probably being used for travel, terrorism or criminal activities. They may even belong to missing people and the police are investigating. Meanwhile, the people were not pleased with their homes being stormed. “Law enforcement agencies should only conduct raids when they have reliable information,” said one protester. “How would you feel if someone barged into your house and forcibly took you away in front of your family?”
Sunni Tehreek’s (ST) head office near Civil hospital was also searched by the Rangers. The ST spokesman, Fahim Qadri, said that the Rangers officials have taken away the licensed weapons from security guards along with documents and destroyed office furniture.
Authorities say they have increased their targeted operations because they feel the raids are effective. An official told The Express Tribune that operations are being repeated so that criminals do not get the chance to take up their positions again. He said that the majority of criminals, whether they belong to political, ethnic or religious organisations or mafias, have gone underground in anticipation of the ongoing operations and this adds to the operations’ success.
“Our mission is to eradicate every single criminal from each nook and cranny of Karachi, and we will continue our activities till we achieve this,” he said.
On Sunday, a grand-scale targeted operation was launched by the Rangers, in parts of Lyari including Bihar Colony, Singu Lane, Jhatpat market, Ghareeb Shah Road, Khadda market, Nayabad, Saifi Lane, Niazi Chowk, Lea Market and surrounding areas. Sources said that nearly 150 suspects including political activists and alleged gangsters, along with weapons, were apprehended. Over 600 Rangers jawans participated in the operation while the police acted as their backup. The operation began early morning and continued into the afternoon. Once the operation in Lyari was over, Rangers displayed the recovered weapons in Peoples Stadium in Lyari and Sachal Wing Commander Brigadier Waseem Ayub told the media that the operation was a success.
An alleged target killer affiliated with Sunni Tehreek was apprehended during an encounter in North Karachi by Sir Syed police. The arrested suspect was identified as Nadir Shah aka Nasir. SHO Changaiz Khan said Shah was arrested after an encounter during which three of his companions, Kashif, Amir and Shahab escaped. He further said that one TT pistol and 50 extortion slips were recovered from Khan’s possession. The officer said that during the initial interrogation, Shah confessed that he had killed at least six people from the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan in Godhra Camp.
Separately, New Karachi Industrial Area police recovered weapons from a bag which was suspiciously lying in a graveyard in Sector 6-B, New Karachi. Two suspects, Zahid and Abdullah were also detained from the same spot. Police officials said that the recovered weapons included a 7 mm rifle, two TT pistols and a 12-bore pistol and they were informed about the bag by residents of the area.
Law enforcers seized licensed weapons from a private television channel reporter, Aftab Malik, the former UC-9 nazim, Fayyaz Malik, and ex-naib nazim, Mohammad Khan. They also detained Awami National Party’s Bihar Colony Ward’s president, Shamsullah, and found a Kalashnikov on him. Rangers spokesman said that the operation was in its final stage and details would be shared with the media later.
Earlier, the police detained nearly 100 suspects during a door-to-door search operation in Iqbal Plaza and MA Jinnah Road, they took the detainees to an undisclosed location on three trucks. The detainees included a suspect identified as Babu alias Bakri. District South SSP Naeem Sheikh said that the operation was launched because they had received a tip-off about the presence of suspects in the area, details would be shared with the media later.
According to the Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) chief, SSP Javed Akbar Riaz, at least six suspects along with three Kalashnikovs, one repeater and eight pistols were apprehended in a joint operation conducted by the CIA, ACLC and Anti-Violent Crime Cell in Keamari and Shah Faisal Colony. Riaz said that some suspects managed to escape during an encounter in Sherpao Colony. He added that they also searched the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi office in Sherpao Colony.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2011.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Only 4 guns of security guards were recoverd by rangers from Sunni Tehreek office; which means ST doesnt has weapons as others like MQM, ANP, PPP, JI and Aman comitte have.