Extrajudicial killings?: Police claim Orangi encounter was 'real', footage shows otherwise

Officials claim TV channel’s footage was distorted to match two different incidents.

KARACHI:

An investigation team has been formed under the supervision of the District West SSP Irfan Baloch to investigate the 'real facts' behind the alleged police encounter in Orangi Town.

The two young suspects, who have yet to be identified, were shot dead on MPR Road in Orangi Town within the limits of Pirabad police station on Thursday evening. Later, the police officials claimed that both the suspects were criminals and were looting passersby when they were killed in an encounter with the police personnel, who were on routine patrol in the area. Police officials had claimed to have seized two pistols and a motorcycle from the suspects.

Questions were raised, however, regarding the police's claims after a private news channel aired the footage of the killings, which showed uniformed and plainclothes police personnel next to a white, Karachi registration number Suzuki Mehran. No police van could be seen in the footage and it was also apparent that the personnel did not find anything illegal from the victims.

As the uniformed personnel frisked the two suspects, the footage captured the plainclothes personnel open fire into the air. The next scene showed the victims' bodies in an ambulance.

Both the suspects have yet to be identified and their bodies are still being kept at the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth. Though the police high-ups have initiated an inquiry, they have denied it to be an act of extrajudicial killing.

"The TV channel attempted to match another incident with that particular encounter. We will send the footages to the forensic division for analysis," said the inquiry team's head, SSP Irfan Baloch, while talking to The Express Tribune. "Even in the footage, we can see that the plainclothes personnel only fired into the air."

SSP Baloch added that victims' fingerprints had been obtained for identification. The two policemen, Nadeem Tanoli and Ejaz, were suspended but their statements have yet to be recorded in the case. "A murder FIR will be registered against the personnel if they are found guilty," he said.

Other encounters

Separately, a young man was killed and another arrested in an injured condition after an alleged encounter with the police in North Nazimabad, within the limits of Sharae Noorjehan police station. SHO Asif Munawar claimed that the two suspects were robbing passersby when the encounter took place. The deceased was identified as Younus Khan and his injured accomplice as Jumma Khan.

The injured alleged robber, speaking from the hospital bed, told the media that he was not a criminal and was not robbing anyone. He claimed that he was a resident of Ittehad Town and was roaming in the area to look for his missing nephew when the incident occurred. He appealed to the senior police officials to investigate the 'fake' encounter.

Separately, another alleged robber was killed and his companion wounded in an alleged encounter with the police in Rozi Goth within the limits of Surjani police station. Police officials claimed that the two suspects were looting milk suppliers in the area when the encounter took place. They also claimed that one police constable, Maqsood, was wounded in the exchange of fire.

Meanwhile, a couple and their young son were wounded when unidentified persons opened indiscriminate fire at them in Surjani Town. Thirty-year-old Zeeshan, son of Afsar Khan, along with his wife, Gul Naz, 25, and their young son, Waqas, were travelling on a motorcycle when unidentified persons opened fire at them. The police officials claimed that Zeeshan was a member of a gang of robbers and his companions had targeted him and his family over some monetary dispute. The injured couple and their son were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2014.