No escape: Karachi’s notorious target killer held again

Ajmal Pahari allegedly confessed to killing over 100 people.

KARACHI: After his mysterious disappearance 12 days ago, Shahnawaz alias Ajmal Pahari, the city’s infamous target killer, was declared arrested by the police on Wednesday.

A resident of Orangi Town, Pahari was first arrested in 1992 for his alleged involvement in 50 cases of murder, but was later released. On March 18, 2011, the Crime Investigation Department’s (CID) Anti-Extremist Cell arrested him again from New Karachi.

The Inter-Services Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau, Special Branch, Rangers and CID conducted interrogation during which he confessed to killing more than 100 people in the city.

Later, he was acquitted in 11 cases and was given bail in four cases by the trial courts. However, he was kept detained at the Karachi jail for the next three months under the Maintenance of Public Order. On January 18, he was released on the Sindh High Court (SHC) orders.

It was after his release that Pahari went missing, forcing his wife, Fauzia, to file a petition in SHC. She feared that her husband was picked up by security agencies once again and may be killed in a fake encounter. The court then directed the jail superintendent to submit a report by January 30.

Coincidentally, Jauharabad police of Gulberg division declared on Wednesday that Pahari has been arrested. District Central police chief DIG Javed Odho confirmed his arrest and said that he was arrested during snap-checking. The accused was wanted to the police stations of Bilal Colony, Korangi and Liaquatabad in four cases of murders, he told The Express Tribune.

“We arrested Pahari for the cases that he confessed to,” DIG Odho explained. “We have handed him over to the relevant police stations.”

Catching Pahari

Jauharabad SHO told The Express Tribune that he spotted Pahari when he was walking out of a narrow street in Jauharabad Block-15. “Pahari was on foot. We became suspicious when he spotted the police and tried to cross the road to the other side.” He did not have an identity card on him, but the police still brought him in. “We found out during interrogations that he was Pahari.”

This time, Pahari has been arrested in two murders in Korangi and one each in Bilal Colony and Liaquatabad of rivalry political party’s workers and police informers between 2004 and 2008. Pahari will be produced before the court today.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2013.