Police admit to ‘accidentally’ killing motorcyclists in Karachi

Five policemen arrested and suspended for killing victims Danish and Ali

KARACHI:

They had one rule — do not stop your motorcycle until you reach the destination. Racing from their homes to Sea View and back was a weekly routine. They lived for these Saturday nights, speeding along the almost empty roads, the roar of the motorcycles' engines piercing through the quiet of the night. This weekend, they were silenced forever.

Twenty-two-year-old Muhammad Ali and 20-year-old Danish, along with four of their friends, were racing their motorcycles back from Sea View late Saturday night when tragedy struck.

As they turned towards Tipu Sultan Chowrangi from Shaheed-e-Millat Road, Danish and Ali were shot dead. Shortly after the incident, Inspector Zaibunnisa, the SHO of Bahadurabad police station, claimed that the police had killed two criminals after an exchange of fire. A little while later, she claimed they were killed in an act of targeted killing by unidentified persons. The police, meanwhile, shifted the bodies to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for autopsies.

Protests

What happened next, however, put the police officials in a fix. The four friends of the deceased, who were with them at the time of the incident, reached home and narrated their side of the story to their families. Then, accompanied by the victims' families, they rushed to the hospital and protested the police's high-handedness.

"The police personnel had been hiding in the dark and came out of nowhere with their guns aimed toward us," said one of the victims' friends. "It was difficult for us to stop the speeding motorcycles immediately and before we could slow down, we had crossed the police picket," he recalled. "The police opened fire at us from behind."

The friends claimed the SHO arrived at the scene almost immediately after the incident, but she too refused to cooperate with them. "We tried to convince them that we weren't criminals, but neither the SHO nor any other police personnel wanted to take Danish and Ali to the hospital," said another friend. "They could have been saved if the police had taken them to the hospital on time."

Riders' night out

Every Saturday night, Karachi's main thoroughfares are the domain of motorcycle riders. For these daredevils, the rest of the week is spent tweaking the motorcycle and ensuring it is ready for the big night out. Most take to the Super Highway or the Sea View Road for drag racing. The recent incident has shocked the racing circuit.

"We have one rule — you come out on the roads in a group and do not stop your motorcycle when the police come in front of you," said one such motorcyclist, Amir Siddiqui. "The police know we are just out to have some fun but they still try to intercept us. If they catch us, we have to either spend the night in the police station or pay heavy bribes. So we decided not to stop the motorcycles."

Senior police officials have taken the notice of the incident and besides suspending the five police personnel involved, they have also placed them under arrest. "The motorcyclists were shot dead accidentally by the police," said Gulshan division SP Abid Qaimkhani. "The police team had earlier been tipped off about a gang looting citizens. They [police] thought these boys were robbers and opened fire at them when they did not stop." The officer said that though the police personnel have been arrested, they were waiting for the complainants to register a case.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2015.