In the gangs of Lyari, guns turn on brothers in arms

The recent nine killings in the Baba Ladla group were motivated by extortion.

KARACHI:

You can check-out but you can never leave. Lyari’s gangs go by much the same motto as that line from the lyrics of the song Hotel California by the Eagles.

In the last few days, at least nine alleged gangsters have been shot dead after developing differences within the group headed by Baba Ladla. It is not without reason that they say: “Jo company ke khilaf jaye ga, woh oopar jaye ga”. In this instance, the differences have surfaced over the amount of extortion money.

Since the 2009 killing of Abdul Rehman Baloch aka Rehman Dakait - the lynchpin of the Lyari gang war, Baba Ladla has held the reins as chief operational commander.

Jabbar Jhengu is one of his top commanders and is said to work with over 200 members in the commercial areas of Lyari, including Shah Baig Lane, Nayabad, Daryabad, Baghdadi and Aath Chowk.

For three years, while the Baba Ladla gang has faced several opponents, including Arshad Pappu, Akram Baloch, the Kutchi Rabita Committee and a political party, none of them have been able to push the group back or take over its turf. But the threshold was breached late Saturday evening when some men under Jabbar Jhengu - a trusted partner of Baba Ladla - shot dead one of the gang, Rashid Bengali.

Member Israr Baloch was blamed for the murder and within minutes, he and his brother Naveed were abducted and killed. Their bodies were reportedly found burnt, triggering a chain reaction in which at least six more men from the rival side were gunned down.

It had been coming. A cold war had been brewing between Baba Ladla and Jabbar Jhengu before the start of Ramazan after the latter set up a gambling den at Aath Chowk without informing his chief, insiders told The Express Tribune.

In Ramazan, the murder of two alleged gangsters was also linked with the differences between the top two gangsters.

Complaints of a den being set up in an open area and the improper distribution of the money earned through gambling added fuel to the fire. “If there had been one issue, the matter may have been settled,” speculated one member of the Baba Ladla group. “After all this, Baba grew suspicious that Jhengu was building contacts with the gang rival Arshad Pappu group.”

“Baba had also thrown out Jhengu and his men from the group and taken back their weapons, but the matter was settled in a few days,” he said. “The gambling place was closed down and the differences were resolved amicably but some tension persisted between the two.”

But, as another gang member says, if you don’t reconcile, you risk being killed. “The men of Jabbar Jhengu are strong fighters. We are trying to reconcile the matter permanently because Jhengu’s death would be a major loss for the company and if he joined a rival group that would be an even bigger threat,” he explained.

Six gangsters, three each from both sides, have been gunned down while three more bodies have been found near the Mewashah graveyard and Lea Market, said Kalakot SHO Javed Baloch while confirming that the police are treating the murders as an internal gang war.

No senior police official was willing to comment on the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2012.