Hajiano’s name resurfaced on Monday when the Darakhshan police started dealing with a gang rape case. Rumours were rife that Hajiano’s gang or one of its offshoots may still be active in the city. Hajiano and his accomplices targeted young women in Defence and Clifton.
Officials said that Hajiano, who was booked in dozens of rape and robbery cases, along with his gang of three was busted in 2009. No offshoot of the gang exists. “But Karachi is a mega city where other criminals may have decided to replicate his modus operandi,” said Ashfaque Alam, who was the superintendent police in Clifton at that time and won many awards for cracking this case.
Alam dispelled the impression that there was any political pressure on the police force. “The truth is that the criminal was too smart for the police and would slip by many times through his many impersonations with wigs and what not,” he said.
Also, while Hajiano was convicted for robbery and dacoity charges, Alam said that no one had come forward to testify on the rape charges against him. “Around 47 people were in court to testify against Hajiano, but none of them for rape,” the police officer said, adding that the main reason was that in our society so much taboo and shame is associated with a rape victim that they choose to remain silent instead of fighting for justice.
However, Alam added that there was no doubt whatsoever that Hajiano raped with impunity. “He did not even have any shame in admitting his rape crimes on television and went on air proudly saying that he had raped so many women that he had lost count.”
Hajiano was one of the three children of Gul Muhammad, a government officer who worked in the provincial education department. His brother Yasir was killed reportedly by activists belonging to a political party, which brought Hajiano close to the ranks of a political party’s group in Landhi, where he and his family lived. However, the criminal was not a party activist.
Hajiano began his career with petty crime, such as snatching cash from the roadside, before venturing into more serious pursuits such as making counterfeit banknotes.
Officials who interrogated him at the time, said that when he got away with a rape and robbery in Clifton for the first time, he got a ‘chaska’ or addiction as one officer put it. Then on, he decided to pursue this line of dirty work full time. He even rented out other cars, such as a Mercedes with a government number plate, in which he would roam around and flash his money. The white Corolla, however, was strictly used for committing the crimes.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2010.
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