Performance report: 115 men killed in encounters since operation began

HRCP report claims 71 men killed by police, 44 by Rangers in first three calendar months.

KARACHI:

The ongoing targeted operation in the city has led to a sharp rise in incidents of police encounters as 115 men have so far been killed by law enforcement agencies in the last three months.

A report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) revealed that between January and March this year, around 71 men have been killed in police encounters while 44 gave been killed by paramilitary soldiers. This is a significant rise from last year when around 189 men were killed over 12 months - this year has reached a similar figure in merely three months.



These 189 people killed in 2013 were victims of encounters and incidents of police torture. More than half of them were, however, killed in the last four months of the year when the targeted operation was launched. Meanwhile, around 118 people were killed by the police and paramilitary soldiers in 2012.

Talking about incidents of police encounters, HRCP chairperson Zohra Yusuf said there is a credibility issue since in many incidents the police team is not injured. "But then there are cases of gun battles too," she added

Yusuf felt that because of the operation, the police are active and there is pressure from the federal government to control the law and order situation in the city. She feared, however, that if the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance is enforced, it will result in an increase of police encounters and extrajudicial killings.

"Initially, the law enforcement agencies did not have the permission to open fire," she said. "Now if this law comes in, they can shoot over suspicions. It will legalise such killings and the situation may get worse."

On the other hand, a former chief of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee, Jameel Yusuf, said that the performance of the law enforcement agencies should not be doubted or demoralised. "Today's criminals are fully armed and they fight back with full strength when the police go to capture them," he said. "If there are fake encounters, then the law enforcers are prosecuted and brought to justice."

The line between human rights and citizens rights should be defined, he stressed, adding that there is a limit to which one can speak of human rights when terrorists and criminals are killing thousands of people.

The HRCP report for the current year also revealed that the targeted operation has had no significant impact on violence, despite the tall claims made by the police officials. Between January and March, 800 have died or have been killed in violent incidents - with 273 killings or deaths in January, 246 in February and 281 in March.

Not everyone laid down their lives for political causes. In fact, around 228 people killed during this time had no political affiliations. The report also said that the police found 102 bodies.

The law enforcers were also not spared. Between January and March, 46 policemen have been killed, along with 34 political activists and 26 suspects involved in the Lyari gang war. A total of 19 people were killed by robbers and 25 were killed due to enmity. Fifty-five women and 30 children were found dead while 17 men were killed by stray bullets.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th, 2014.