Ishq-e-Rasool day riots: Slap on the wrist jail time for men arrested for violence

A thousand men protested that day, but just 27 were caught.

KARACHI: When lawyers burst into the courtyard of the Anti-Terrorism Courts on Thursday afternoon to break the bad news to 27 suspects going to jail for rioting on September 21, one lad burst into tears - only to receive a consolatory hug from the investigating officer prosecuting him.

The lawyers did have some good news to tell their clients though: they are going to jail for only a few days. “You should be thanking the judge,” chided one of the lawyers, “and the investigating officer.”

The 27 men in custody have been accused of going on a rampage on Ishq-e-Rasool Day when the city’s six landmark cinemas were gutted and restaurants and banks were vandalised and robbed. But the men and two children in custody - who made their third court appearance on Thursday - continue to insist that they have been framed.

According to lawyer Naeem Ahmed Aazar, at least one of those men in detention is “insane” and will need a medical evaluation if the case goes to trial, but fellow inmates said that the man only had severe headaches and often burst out crying.

Twenty-five of the suspects have been remanded to judicial custody, and the two juveniles will be kept in a remand home. They are scheduled to appear in court on October 8, when the investigating officer will present a final report.

Nine suspects in custody of the Civil Lines police will learn of their fate on Friday. They were brought to court for their hearing fairly late in the afternoon and were told that they would now have to reappear Friday as it was too late in the working day. The court staff was busy with paperwork.

In their bus, there was much talk among the suspect of which jail they would be going to and how they were detained. A 20-year-old Hafiz-e-Quran, Mohammad Arshad, said he had gone out on Friday after his younger brother, who was playing cricket. “All the seminary boys play cricket on Fridays after prayers,” he said. He was detained along with his father.

Faisal Hameed and Mohammad Taimur, two friends from a neighbourhood in Landhi, have not retained a lawyer yet, in the hope that the police’s final report will exonerate them.

Hameed, a 30-year-old worker at Gul Ahmed textiles, said he and Taimur made the mistake of leaving their motorcycle when they were stopped near Bilawal Chowrangi by the police as the situation in the area was not clear.  They waited it out near Park Lane hospital but when they returned to collect the motorcycle the police detained them for allegedly taking part in the violence.

The men in custody are Abdul Mateen, Mohammad Arif, Saifullah, Gulzar, Noor Mohammad, Mohammad Khan, Mohammad Arshad, Zahid Akber, Waliullah, Mohammad Rehman, Saddam Hussain, Aminullah, Samiullah, Shabbir Ahmed, Mohammad Faisal, Mohammad Taimur, Zubair, Ghulam Haider, Kaleemullah, Asif Khan, Waheed Gul, Wazeer Khan, Sangar Khan, Naseer Khan and Abdul Raheem, as well as two juveniles.

Also on Thursday, the Kharadar police also brought in two suspects, who were detained this week, much after the action. The suspects, who are in their 20s, will be presented in court after a week and will remain in police custody till then.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2012.