Holding a grudge: Fight between two groups follows them to JPMC
The fight began near Empress Market in Saddar on Friday evening when unidentified men shot and killed Awami National Party’s (ANP) local leader, Ramzan Kakar. DSP Zameer Abbasi said that ANP activists opened fire at the culprits and managed to injure one of them, identified as Abdur Rehman, son of Habibur Rehman. Two policemen - ASI Qasim Nabi Buksh and constable Tariq Shafiq - and a passerby, Habib, were also wounded.
Believing that Kakar was still alive, some men drove a rickshaw right into the casualty ward, where the injured suspect was also under treatment. Upon seeing their rivals, they opened fire at him inside the casualty ward and damaged the dressing room and tiles inside the ward. There were over 50 staffers inside the ward when at least 17 bullets were fired from a sub-machine gun.
JPMC casualty department in-charge Dr Seemin Jamali berated the police for not coming on time. “It was horrifying, we were going to die,” she said. “Their security was more than ours, if the Rangers weren’t present, we would all have died.”
Upset that the police walked in three hours after the shooutout, Dr Jamali refused to hand over the CCTV footage to the police, and gave it to the Rangers instead. On a phone call with the CCPO, she said, “you’re a bahadur sipahi [brave soldier]. You come to raise morale,” as she pleaded for more policemen at the hospital.
The injured passerby, Habib, was in the ICU, while the alleged attacker’s body was sent to Civil hospital.
Meanwhile, the law enforcers claimed to have arrested a man who killed the alleged attacker inside the hospital. As the Rangers took away one of the shooters, Dr Jamali asked him, “have you no shame?” They also found a bloodied Cuore at the Empress Market.
An ANP spokesperson told The Express Tribune that their men were attacked when they were returning from the Sindh Culture Day rally. The deceased, Ramzan, was the joint secretary for ANP’s South district while his elder brother, Abdul Bari Kakar, is ANP south district president.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2012.
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