PIB Colony murders: Police deploys more men after funerals of 3

The assailants took two semiautomatic machine guns and a pistol from the deceased.

KARACHI: The bodies of the three policemen, who were killed in PIB Colony early Thursday morning, were sent to their hometowns for burial on the same day.

ASI Dhani Baksh and constables Muhammad Nisar and Muhammad Ramzan were killed on the spot after men on motorcycles opened fire on them with their AK-47s. “It would be wrong to blame one political party for the deteriorating law and order of the city,” said Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wassan at the funeral.

The assailants reportedly took two semiautomatic machine guns and a pistol from the deceased policemen. “But such actions will not scare the police whose men are risking their lives to serve the public,” asserted Wassan.

The incident came on the heels of an outbreak of violence over more than a week in PIB Colony. Earlier, two Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activists were killed there. Wassan did not entertain the barrage of questions from journalists about the steps being taken by the government to catch the PIB killers, as demanded by the coalition partner. “A lot of people are angry at each other. If the MQM has concerns, then the PPP also has its own concerns. We are maintaining the law and order situation as per our job,” was his only reply.

The responsibility of restoring peace in Karachi falls on all political and religious parties, said the home minister. “We suspect that after the sectarian clashes, ethnic violence might also break out.”

According to Wassan, the violence in Karachi is for control of land.

Paying respects 

The policemen, who were all from the Ferozabad police station, were killed before sunrise. “I spoke to my brother [ASI Nisar] just the other night,” said a shocked Muhammad Saleem. Nisar’s family belongs to Haripur. “He lived here for 25 years. I cannot understand how something like this could happen.”

A tent was set up at the police headquarters in Garden, with arrangements for flowers and garlands. With police officials in a large attendance, the coffins of the deceased were covered with flags of Pakistan and the Sindh Police.

Ferozabad police additional superintendent, Malik Murtaza, said that it was not unusual for policemen to be deputed in someone else’s jurisdiction. “They have been trained to protect themselves.”

Following the murder, more than a dozen policemen from Bahadurabad, Aziz Bhatti and other police stations were deputed along the road, which starts from Central Jail and leads to the crime scene.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2012.