Unending brutality: As victims of violence laid to rest, more bodies pile up

Police identify some victims as members of banned religious groups.

KARACHI:

While the police and Rangers appeared clueless about the perpetrators of the on-going violence, bodies of four more people were found stuffed in gunny bags. With two others shot dead in separate incidents of targeted killing, Tuesday’s death toll stood at six.

The body of a man, identified as 36-year-old Shahid Memon, son of Noor Mohammad, was found in Federal B Area, said the Jauharabad police. The body was found inside a gunny bag and a plastic bag had been stuffed into the victim’s mouth. Law enforcers said that Memon lived in Hussainabad and had been missing since Monday. The body was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors said that the victim had died because of suffocation. On the complaint of the victim’s father, an FIR has been registered against unidentified men.

The body of an unidentified man was found within the jurisdiction of the Korangi Industrial Area police station. SHO Malik Ayub said that the culprits shot the victim in head and then put the body inside a gunny bag. The body was first taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and then sent to the Edhi morgue for identification.

Another body was found inside a gunny bag near Star Ground, said the Quaidabad police. The law enforcers detected several marks of torture  on the body, conjecturing that a sharp object had been used in the killing. The body was first taken to JPMC and later moved to the Edhi Morgue for identification.

The body of another teenage boy, identified as 18-year-old Saleem, was found in Future Colony, Landhi, said the Sharafi Goth police. The body was taken to the JPMC for autopsy.

A truck driver, identified as 33-year-old Abdul Sattar Khan, was shot dead in North Karachi, said the Khawaja Ajmair Nagri police. Law enforcers added that the victim was driving his truck near his house when unidentified armed men intercepted and shot him. The body was sent to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

In an unrelated incident, a man was shot dead and another was injured in Bhains Colony, said the Sukkan police. The body of the slain man, identified as 27-year-old Abrar, and his injured cousin, 31-year-old Abdul Hameed, were taken to JPMC. Law enforcers said that the accused man, Adnan, entered Hameed’s house and started firing indiscriminately after an exchange of hot words over a personal dispute.

Victims identified

The police claimed on Tuesday that the bodies of the five people, found separately from Gadap Town in the last few days, have now been identified as missing suspected militants. The law enforcers, however, said that they were still trying to ascertain the motive behind their killings.

The bodies of three men were found on June 16 in the Gadap City area and the police shifted them to the Edhi morgue. The families of the victims have identified them as Arshad, Iqbal and Mehmood. Arshad and Iqbal had been missing since last year and cases had been filed at two different police stations. Mehmood had been missing for over three years.

Two other men, who were found dead in the Memon Goth area of Gadap Town on June 12, were also identified by their families as Kaki Khan and Qari Noor Shah.

SSP Rao Anwar said that law enforcers were still investigating the victims’ possible affiliations with banned religious groups. However, Gadap City SHO Raja Aslam said that the initial investigation has led law enforcers to believe that the victims were associated with banned religious outfits, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, even though their families denied this.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2012.