On guard: Police go on back foot in the face of unrelenting attacks

Officials instructed to stop snap-checks and patrols.

KARACHI: Police personnel across the city have been advised to keep their activities limited and avoid any unusual movements within their areas following consecutive attacks on law enforcers in the city.

The attacks

A police sub-inspector and a sepoy were killed and four more police personnel were wounded in three consecutive attacks on the police in different areas of the city on Tuesday. Two policemen were wounded when an improvised explosive device exploded near a police mobile conducting snap-checks in North Karachi.

Few hours later, sub-inspector Sadaruddin was killed and two more were wounded when at least four armed men, riding two motorcycles, opened fire at the police personnel as they were conducting snap-checks in Korangi.



Sadaruddin’s body was sent to his hometown, Kashmore, for burial. The deceased sub-inspector had joined the force in 1986 as a constable and was posted to Karachi a few years ago to the Korangi police station.

A police constable, Abdul Majeed, was also killed in an act of target killing in Lyari. Majeed’s funeral prayers were offered at the Garden police headquarters and he was later laid to rest at the Sher Shah graveyard. The cases of the attacks on the police were registered against unidentified persons at the Khawaja Ajmair Nagri, Korangi and Kalri police stations on behalf of the state.

Due precaution

Sources in the police department told The Express Tribune that the police personnel have been advised by senior officials to keep their activities limited, including conducting snap-checks and patrolling, following a series of attacks on the police. “We have not asked them to stop conducting snap-checks and to stop patrolling the areas and have asked them to keep their activities limited to avoid more such incidents,” said a senior police official. “We also asked them to leave the police stations with a proper contingent and be fully prepared when doing so.”

Investigations continue

Police officials said that Lyari’s Shakeel Badhshah gang was behind the killing of the policeman who was killed in Lyari, while police investigators remained unable to make any progress in the cases of the other two attacks. “Right now we cannot say whether there was a link between the attacks on the police in Korangi and North Karachi,” said SP Usman Bajwa. “It is clear that the attacks were well-planned. However, we have yet to ascertain which group or groups are behind them.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2014.