Police have the guns and they’re willing to share
Tribal clashes are on the rise and weapons are coming from the law enforcers.
KARACHI:
Getting guns just seems to get easier with time. Residents in villages across Kamber-Shahdadkot district revealed that they get their Kalashnikovs and G-3s from an unlikely source: policemen.
Even though the police department is supposed to provide for the security of the public, they are instead supplying tribes with everything from bullets to rocket launchers.
Laiq Marfani, 50, has had a longstanding feud with the Mugheri tribe. He recently lost his son in one of these clashes, in which at least eight people have already been killed. There are around 24 bunkers around his village, Jamak Chandio, where teenagers armed with heavy guns can be seen patrolling.
Several tribes in the district used to get their arms and ammunition from contacts living in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, with whom they have ‘good relations’. But now the whole process has become even simpler. “We have to pay Rs50 for a bullet used in Kalashnikovs and Rs70 to Rs100 for G-3 bullets,” he explained. In 1993, the price of a Kalashnikov bullet was around Rs6, but now that tribal clashes take place even more frequently and are more tech-savvy, the prices have skyrocketed. Kalashnikovs that cost Rs13,000 in 1993 are now bought for Rs100,000, informed Marfani.
Frequent armed conflicts have created a perpetual air of fear in several villages and towns, including Lalu Raunk, Waggan, Yarodero and Warrah. Once bustling business hubbubs, these areas have become ghost towns. Shopkeepers alleged that 70 per cent of their business has declined in just the past six months due to the deadly clashes.
The only role the police have is that of supplying the weapons that keep these armed conflicts going.
“We have complained countless times to the District Police Officer (DPO) Kamber-Shahdadkot district, asking him to establish check posts and start patrolling in the area but they never do anything,” said Anwar Bohar, a landlord of Bohar village. Too often innocent bystanders are caught in clashes that they are not even part of, he said. “How can one expect peace when the police supply weapons and bullets to the criminals?” he asked.
According to him, a police picket set up in the area has been abandoned since 1996. “A few days ago two rival groups belonging to the Marfani and Mugheri tribes attacked each other with rockets. We called the police but no one reached in time and a passerby died in the firing,” he said.
For his part, SHO Drigh Mir Muhammad Kalhoro said that the police have limited staff and resources. He asked the DPO to boost the force and hire more personnel so that they can establish pickets and check posts in the more volatile areas.
Interview with an alleged bandit
Gulbahar Mugheri is among the most wanted dacoits in the district and the government has announced Rs1.5 million as a bounty for his arrest. However, Gulbahar maintains he is innocent.
Talking to The Express Tribune on the phone from an undisclosed location, Gulbahar said some people of his tribe were involved in petty criminal cases but he had done nothing wrong.
In 1996, the police arrested him during a raid and then tortured him. He was let go off when influential people in his village intervened and bribed the police. A while later, travellers on the main road in his area were robbed, after which the police started looking for him again. Gulbahar managed to escape but the police took his wife and sister into custody.
“I still did not surrender and the police started filing every possible criminal case against me,” he said. “I swear I have neither killed nor kidnapped anyone,” he vowed.
Gulbahar also confirmed reports of police officials supplying arms and ammunition to them at ‘nominal rates’.
“They always ask us to give them a ‘missed call’ if we need any thing. They also tip us off if there is to be an operation or raid in our area,” Gulbahar claimed.
What the police have to say
Officials in the police department said that a few months ago, former DIG Larkana Sanaullah Abbasi sacked policemen at the Kamber police station for their suspected involvement in supplying weapons and bullets to criminals. Talking to The Express Tribune, Abbasi said the investigation revealed that around 100 police personnel, ranking from inspectors to constables, posted at different police stations in Larkana district were involved in supplying weapon to bandits. “I dismissed around one dozen officials but within a few days most of them were reinstated by either the courts or on the recommendation of powerful people sitting in the corridors of power,” he said.
Abbasi said that when he was incharge, he had told his men that if a kidnapped person was not found or released within a week then the relevant DSP and SHO would be suspended. “The policy yielded good results and the police killed around 150 bandits within a year,” he said.
According to the former DIG, force is seen as power and honour by both the tribesmen and the police. This is why the armed conflicts continue and the police also feel proud about having good relations with the criminals.
On the other hand, SP Investigations Kamber-Shahdadot district Eijaz Tareen lauded the police in his district. He said that the police have maintained law and order during the last few months, before which the rate of kidnapping-for-ransom cases was steadily rising. “I accept that a few clashes between different groups have been reported but the police should be given credit because they have managed to control the situation later,” he said. Regarding police involvement in supplying arms and ammunition to criminals, Tareen replied, “It is nothing but propaganda against the police.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 1st, 2010.
Getting guns just seems to get easier with time. Residents in villages across Kamber-Shahdadkot district revealed that they get their Kalashnikovs and G-3s from an unlikely source: policemen.
Even though the police department is supposed to provide for the security of the public, they are instead supplying tribes with everything from bullets to rocket launchers.
Laiq Marfani, 50, has had a longstanding feud with the Mugheri tribe. He recently lost his son in one of these clashes, in which at least eight people have already been killed. There are around 24 bunkers around his village, Jamak Chandio, where teenagers armed with heavy guns can be seen patrolling.
Several tribes in the district used to get their arms and ammunition from contacts living in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, with whom they have ‘good relations’. But now the whole process has become even simpler. “We have to pay Rs50 for a bullet used in Kalashnikovs and Rs70 to Rs100 for G-3 bullets,” he explained. In 1993, the price of a Kalashnikov bullet was around Rs6, but now that tribal clashes take place even more frequently and are more tech-savvy, the prices have skyrocketed. Kalashnikovs that cost Rs13,000 in 1993 are now bought for Rs100,000, informed Marfani.
Frequent armed conflicts have created a perpetual air of fear in several villages and towns, including Lalu Raunk, Waggan, Yarodero and Warrah. Once bustling business hubbubs, these areas have become ghost towns. Shopkeepers alleged that 70 per cent of their business has declined in just the past six months due to the deadly clashes.
The only role the police have is that of supplying the weapons that keep these armed conflicts going.
“We have complained countless times to the District Police Officer (DPO) Kamber-Shahdadkot district, asking him to establish check posts and start patrolling in the area but they never do anything,” said Anwar Bohar, a landlord of Bohar village. Too often innocent bystanders are caught in clashes that they are not even part of, he said. “How can one expect peace when the police supply weapons and bullets to the criminals?” he asked.
According to him, a police picket set up in the area has been abandoned since 1996. “A few days ago two rival groups belonging to the Marfani and Mugheri tribes attacked each other with rockets. We called the police but no one reached in time and a passerby died in the firing,” he said.
For his part, SHO Drigh Mir Muhammad Kalhoro said that the police have limited staff and resources. He asked the DPO to boost the force and hire more personnel so that they can establish pickets and check posts in the more volatile areas.
Interview with an alleged bandit
Gulbahar Mugheri is among the most wanted dacoits in the district and the government has announced Rs1.5 million as a bounty for his arrest. However, Gulbahar maintains he is innocent.
Talking to The Express Tribune on the phone from an undisclosed location, Gulbahar said some people of his tribe were involved in petty criminal cases but he had done nothing wrong.
In 1996, the police arrested him during a raid and then tortured him. He was let go off when influential people in his village intervened and bribed the police. A while later, travellers on the main road in his area were robbed, after which the police started looking for him again. Gulbahar managed to escape but the police took his wife and sister into custody.
“I still did not surrender and the police started filing every possible criminal case against me,” he said. “I swear I have neither killed nor kidnapped anyone,” he vowed.
Gulbahar also confirmed reports of police officials supplying arms and ammunition to them at ‘nominal rates’.
“They always ask us to give them a ‘missed call’ if we need any thing. They also tip us off if there is to be an operation or raid in our area,” Gulbahar claimed.
What the police have to say
Officials in the police department said that a few months ago, former DIG Larkana Sanaullah Abbasi sacked policemen at the Kamber police station for their suspected involvement in supplying weapons and bullets to criminals. Talking to The Express Tribune, Abbasi said the investigation revealed that around 100 police personnel, ranking from inspectors to constables, posted at different police stations in Larkana district were involved in supplying weapon to bandits. “I dismissed around one dozen officials but within a few days most of them were reinstated by either the courts or on the recommendation of powerful people sitting in the corridors of power,” he said.
Abbasi said that when he was incharge, he had told his men that if a kidnapped person was not found or released within a week then the relevant DSP and SHO would be suspended. “The policy yielded good results and the police killed around 150 bandits within a year,” he said.
According to the former DIG, force is seen as power and honour by both the tribesmen and the police. This is why the armed conflicts continue and the police also feel proud about having good relations with the criminals.
On the other hand, SP Investigations Kamber-Shahdadot district Eijaz Tareen lauded the police in his district. He said that the police have maintained law and order during the last few months, before which the rate of kidnapping-for-ransom cases was steadily rising. “I accept that a few clashes between different groups have been reported but the police should be given credit because they have managed to control the situation later,” he said. Regarding police involvement in supplying arms and ammunition to criminals, Tareen replied, “It is nothing but propaganda against the police.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 1st, 2010.