Ongoing operations: CID arrests party-backed target killer

Seven men were killed in Orangi, and eight in Pirabad, which included minibus passengers.

KARACHI: A suspected target killer, who allegedly confessed to being involved in more than 15 murders, was nabbed on Tuesday.

A team led by the Crime Investigation Department’s SSP Fayyaz Khan caught Anwar Shah alias Shahji from Site.

According to Khan, the suspect is affiliated with a political party. A Kalashnikov and 11 rounds of ammunition were seized.

Most of the murders were committed in Pirabad and Orangi. The suspect allegedly killed men named Mohammad Arshad, Mohammad Javed, Waqar Ahmed and Kamran Saeed in one incident alone in Orangi Town.

Akhtar Abdul Kareem was the second target, in Pirabad. Shah allegedly killed six people, Ishtiaq Ahmed Siddiqi, Ahad Gulzar, Mohammad Mohsin, Akbar and three yet to be identified people when he opened fire on a route D-1 public bus there.

In another incident, the suspect confessed to having killed Tahir Ali in Pirabad. Nadeem Ahmed was also killed in a separate incident in Orangi Town. Shafiq Ahmed Qureshi was shot dead in Orangi. And the last killing he admitted to was that of Sher Ali Siddiqi in Orangi.

Even though the CID faced a setback just a day earlier when senior officer Chaudhry Aslam survived a suicide bombing at his residence, Khan said that work was not interrupted. “We are going to carry out our duties come what may, even if a terrorist or anyone attacks us,” he said.

The CID’s Chaudhry Aslam had arrested three other target killers belonging to political parties on September 16. Sohail Liaquatabad Wallah, Mohammad Kashif alias Shakeel Burger and Naeem Khanzada were alleged to have killed a total of 70 people. The handout issued by the investigation and intelligence arm of the Sindh police had only stated that they “belonged to various political parties” but the identity and ethnicites of their victims spoke volumes of their affiliations.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st,  2011.