LAHORE:
Two suspected robbers were killed in what the police claimed was a shootout at the robber’s den on Wednesday, though witnesses reported seeing the man in police custody on Tuesday.
The deceased, Eid Muhammad and Saeedullah, from Waziristan had allegedly tried to rob a Bank Alfalah branch on Sheikhupura-Sargodha Road on Tuesday, but had been foikled by security guards and onlookers.
Witnesses at the scene said that City A-Division police were informed and both the men were handed over to them. They said weapons seized from the robbers were also handed over to the police.
Witnesses at the bank told The Express Tribune that the police had taken the two men away in a police van.
But, Station House Officer Saleem Akhtar Niazi said that police had arrested only one of the robbers, Eid Muhammad, while Saeedullah had fled the scene.
He said on information obtained from Eid Muhammad, police had raided a house in Makki Town on Wednesday.
When the police team reached the house and made an announcement seeking Saeedullah to surrender, he said, some men from inside the house started firing at the police. He said there seemed to be at least six men in the house.
He said some of them also shot at the police van, carrying Eid Muhammad, apparently to help him flee. He was, however, hit by a bullet. Saeedullah was also shot, while his accomplices fled, said Niazi.
The station house officer said that the injured men were taken to district headquarters hospital, where they later succumbed to their injuries. The bodies had been sent for post-mortem examination, he said. He said a case had been registered against six men for attacking the police team.
Later addressing a press conference, Inspector General of Police Haji Habibur Rehman said that while he did not have any sympathy for criminals, the police could not carry out extra-judicial killings.
He said staging encounters was considered haram (religiously forbidden).
He said such incidents occurred when police were attacked by criminals.
He said in 2012 so far, some 350 criminals and 25 police personnel had been killed in police encounters in the Punjab.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 13th, 2012.
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