Some headway made as 4 of 10 suspects arrested over Khairpur attack

Men belong to SSP but MNA insists it is political rivalry.

SUKKUR: The Khairpur police are under pressure to treat the homicide of six people before a pro-ruling party rally as a politically motivated crime. But the police chief is describing it as a personal feud.

On Sunday, the rally was organised by the Pakistan Peoples Party in support of the local government legislation. It was scheduled to begin in the evening in Khairpur town. The rally was organised in part by Khairpur town administrator Niaz Janwri. MNA Nafeesa Shah was expected to arrive. And while people waited for her, Niaz and some journalists went to a roadside cafe for tea. They were attacked by about 10 men. Six people were killed and 10 others were injured.

The case was registered by Maulvi Abdul Ghafoor Janwri. He is an Ahle Tasheeh cleric and he went to the Khairpur B-section police station accompanied by Major (retd) Ali Abbas, the chief of the Shia Rabita Council in Khairpur. They registered the FIR against 10 attackers, out of which seven were named and three were unidentified. On Monday, four of the 10 suspects were arrested.

Sukkur DIG Dr Ameer Ahmed Shaikh has said that the attack was the outcome of an old enmity between two groups of the Janwri clan. Indeed, Niaz Janwri has accused fellow clansman Azizullah Janwri of opening fire on him as he sat at the roadside drinking tea. “I had just gone there to take a look and was sitting at a roadside hotel with some journalists and PPP workers, when the assailants attacked us,” Niaz claimed.

For her part, MNA Nafeesa Shah had called it a political rivalry. The police are also looking into the possibility that it was a sectarian attack as Niaz Janwri and the other PPP workers belong to the Ahle Tasheeh sect while the nominated suspects, including Azizullah, are associated with the banned sectarian Sipah-e-Sahaba outfit.

Meanwhile, outside the Khairpur SSP Office, a number of journalists staged a protest against the death of their colleague in the attack. A reporter was killed and three more journalists were injured but the police are treating the attack as a sectarian one, the protesters alleged.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2012.