A strange act: Police register murder FIR against 8, including victim

Tribesmen block road, demand action against police.

SUKKUR: The Wagan police have registered an FIR against eight persons of the Solangi tribe for the death of an elderly woman and her son who were shot dead in Laloo Raink during a scuffle between the police and civilians during a police raid.

The police were allegedly manhandling a resident, Manzoor Solangi, when a crowd of onlookers tried to prevent them from doing so. The ensuing scuffle resulted in both sides opening fire, which led to the death of Manzoor's mother, Lashma Khatoon, and brother, Chakar Solangi. While the Solangi tribesmen claim that the two were killed by the police, the police claimed that they were killed by shots fired by their own tribesmen. Scores of Solangi tribesmen blocked the G M Syed Chowk in Laloo Raink on Saturday, putting the bodies of the deceased on the road. The protesters shouted slogans against the atrocities of the police and demanded the registration of an FIR against the police officers responsible for killing Khatoon and her son Chakar.

The sit-in continued from 8pm on Saturday till 5am on Sunday morning as the protestors refused to bury the bodies till the registration of a case against the police. In the morning, Kamber-Shahdadkot deputy commissioner Asadullah Abro reached the spot and negotiated with the protesters. The DC reportedly assured them of swift justice, after which the protest ended.

The Larkana DIG also constituted a three-member inquiry committee, headed by Shikarpur SSP Jawed Jaskani, to investigate the matter and submit a report within three days.

However, the civil society of Laloo Raink rejected the inquiry committee and demanded judicial inquiry into the matter to reveal the wrongdoings of the law enforcers.

Pakistan Peoples Party MPA from Kamber-Shahdadkot, Aziz Ahmed Jatoi, condemned the incident and said that if any police officials were found to be involved in the incident, they should be punished accordingly. "I will take up this matter into the parliamentary committee before the budget session," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2014.