Late rescue: Robber, villager die in the fields after shootout

Policemen arrived two hours after the incident.

A robber and a villager who had been injured during a firefight after a burglary died as the residents waited for the police to arrive in Sher Khan Mulkhani in Bhit Shah.

Four armed robbers broke into the house of Majnoo Kohli late on Sunday night and snatched jewellery and cash. The women began to cry as the men tried to leave. The villagers gathered and the men ran away and hid in the fields nearby. Both sides fired at each other and one of the robbers, Yaqoob Shahani, and a villager, Punhal Malkani, were shot.

The villagers kept calling the police but they arrived two hours later. According to an elder of the village, Gul Hassan Malukhani,the two men could have been saved easily if the police had responded in time. “We kept calling the police but they came when the men had died.”

DSP Ali Nawaz Jamali responded by saying that the force lacks the resources to maintain their presence everywhere. The area is large and they have a lot of pickets to man.

An FIR has not been registered so far. Kamal Malukhani, the brother of one of the victims, said that they waited for a long time for SHO Mukhtiar Memon to come. “We handed over two of the robbers to the police and told them the name and address of the third one,” he said. He said that the robbers belonged to Daur area of Shaheed Benazirabad and were nominated in several crimes in many police stations.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2012.