"The ASF did not check his passport at the gate. is means that anyone can enter and leave the airport," A serving officer of the Federal Investigative Agency. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI:
Shahrukh Jatoi has been declared guilty and in his wake, he has exposed several government institutions, which have bowed down before power and money.
“Shahzeb’s case has exposed political interference and corruption at every level,” said Express News anchorperson Shahzeb Khanzada. “The lawyers were bought. The police created problems. The FIA helped him escape,” he pointed out. “But there are sincere people in every department and change can be brought through them.”
The police
The inefficiency of the police surfaced at the initial stage when Darakhshan police failed to turn up at the crime scene, delayed the registration of an FIR and recorded incomplete details of the shooting.
The SHO at the time, Malik Saleem, and the DSP received a huge bribe from Shahrukh’s family, said an intelligence officer on the condition of anonymity. He told his sub-inspector, Ghulam Yaseen, to mess up the FIR, he added. According to him, that is why they delayed the arrests and let the Talpur brothers escape to rural Sindh and Shahrukh to Dubai. “If the Supreme Court had not intervened, the police would have never caught the criminals,” he claimed.
Faizullah Karejo, who was part of the three investigative teams, admitted that there were flaws by the police initially but their role should not be ignored. “We would not have been able to bring back Shahrukh if the top court had not come forward as it was not within our jurisdiction,” he told The Express Tribune.
The police surgeons
The court ordered a medical board to determine Shahrukh’s age as he was claiming to be under 18 years old. The police surgeon Jalil Qadir carried the ossification test and declared, however, that he was a minor, between the ages of 17 and 18. Unsatisfied with the results, the court ordered another test, in which a seven-member medical board declared that Shahrukh was, in fact, between 19 and 20 years old.
According to a retired police surgeon, Kamal Sheikh, his former department is one of the most corrupt. “Bribing and blackmailing is common in this department,” he admitted. “Though Qadir was my junior, I cannot guarantee that he performed his duty with honesty.” Sheikh felt the department has fallen into inexperienced hands, and people should present proofs about the medical officer’s inefficiency.
The airport staff
Two days after committing the murder, Shahrukh escaped to Dubai escorted by a Pakistan International Airlines protocol officer. Without an exit stamp on his passport, Shahrukh fled the country with the mere help of a boarding pass that carried someone else’s name.
A serving officer of the Federal Investigative Agency blamed the Airport Security Force (ASF), instead of holding his immigration staff responsible. “The ASF did not check his passport at the gate. This means that anyone can enter and leave the airport.” Meanwhile, the names of the accused were put on the exit control list on January 2, after the police had formally sent out a letter. “Because of our VIP culture, we were dodged by a young man who went through all security barriers,” the officer said, adding that security cameras are being placed at the right places now.
He refused, however, to elaborate on why the FIA hid the identity of the protocol officer for two months, and how the video footage of Shahrukh’s immigration went missing.
What about his aides?
The case has exposed several men who were, as proved by the court verdict, on the wrong side, but it is unlikely they will pay for their actions. Zohra Yusuf, of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, is not too optimistic about the consequences of this case.
She hoped, nevertheless, that the verdict against Shahrukh set an example so that other young men do not do what he did. “The rich in this country exercise a great deal of influence, and can get away with crimes,” she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 8th, 2013.
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Shahrukh Jatoi did not on-purpose expose the failures of the system. Instead, it was the weak system that split at the seams and showed it's weaknesses under duress. Many big fish must be jealous of their inability to escape overseas like Shahrukh was helped at every step of the way to Dubai.