Three MQM workers slain in encounter, say Rangers

Their bodies were shifted to the Edhi morgue where their families identified them on Friday


Our Correspondents September 12, 2015
PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI:


Four Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activists were killed in an encounter near the Northern Bypass Thursday night, said the Rangers in a statement issued on Friday.


This is the first time since the Karachi operation began two years ago that the paramilitary force has admitted to killing political activists in an encounter. Rangers officials said that the suspects killed were involved in the targeted killing of their own party’s legal aid committee member in broad daylight.

The Rangers’ spokesperson claimed that the encounter took place when their troops conducted an operation over the presence of criminals involved in the targeted killing of advocate Syed Ali Hasnain Shah Bukhari, who was gunned down in Korangi on March 4.

“The criminals resorted to indiscriminate firing at the Rangers troops,” claimed the spokesperson, as he spoke about Thursday’s encounter.

Rangers men retaliated, killing four criminals after an exchange of fire, he said.

Their bodies were shifted to the Edhi morgue where their families identified them on Friday. The suspects were later identified as Shahid Ghulam, Zohaibullah and Muhammad Adeel. The fourth suspect’s body remained at the morgue as it has yet to be identified. Sources have identified him as Kashif Khalil, an MQM worker, but this has yet to be confirmed officially.

A statement issued by the Rangers revealed that, in addition to the killing of Bukhari, the suspects were involved in numerous cases of targeted killings and the attack on a bus carrying police commandos in Chakra Goth.

Later, the MQM held a news conference in which it announced that the suspects belonged to the party and they were killed in an ‘extrajudicial’ manner. However, Rangers officials termed the claims ‘baseless propaganda’ and labelled the party’s allegations an attempt to mislead everyone.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2015.

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