KARACHI: Just four days after the targeted killing of a police volunteer on the Northern Bypass, three unidentified men were found shot dead at the same place on Monday morning, police said.

What added to the mystery of the crime was the fact that the killings were stated to be ‘revenge’ for the murder of the Police Qaumi Razakar (PQR), according to a pamphlet found at the spot.

Bearing the name of the newly formed militant outfit, Ansarul Sharia Pakistan (ASP), the pamphlet also contained a warning for the ‘terrorists’ that if they did not desist from killing the policemen or police volunteers at the behest of intelligence agencies of countries hostile to Pakistan, then not only the ‘terrorists’ but also their families would be targeted.

The pamphlet also said those targeting policemen or police volunteers had sold their ‘faith’ to non-believers and the forces of foreign countries. They were ‘misusing’ the name of ‘jihadi organisations’ for furthering their ‘un-Islamic motives’, it added.

Police uncertain about rift among militants as Ansarul Sharia Pakistan claims responsibility

It should be mentioned that ASP is the same militant group which itself has claimed responsibility for the killing of security personnel. Previously, the pamphlets found after the incidents stated that the killing of law enforcers in the city was ‘revenge’ for the killing of militants in ‘encounters’ and alleged injustices meted out to the families of militants.

The ASP had claimed responsibility for the killing of the men in the latest incident, said Malir SSP Rao Anwar Ahmed.

“The three bodies were found near the closed Northern Bypass police checkpoint,” said SSP Rao Anwar. They were dumped there by unidentified persons, added the senior officer.

He said during the search of the bodies, the pamphlet of Ansarul Sharia Pakistan was found.

SITE Superhighway Industrial police SHO Anar Khan told Dawn that the bodies were found from the same place where PQR Rana Jamshed had been gunned down some four days ago on his way home after performing his duty.

So far, the identity of the three men could not be ascertained, the SHO said. However, he added, all the deceased persons sported long beards.

On Monday evening, the police registered an FIR under Sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code against unknown suspects on behalf of the state.

According to the FIR, the bodies were spotted at around 7am, some two to three hours after the three men had been shot dead.

The deceased were in their 30s.

The police said the men had been kidnapped and killed somewhere else before their bodies were dumped on the Northern Bypass.

About the motive, the FIR stated that they were killed on account of some ‘unknown conflict or enmity’.

The bodies were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination. Police surgeon Dr Aijaz Khokhar told Dawn that they sustained multiple bullet wounds on their head and chest.

Rift among militants?

Asked if the pamphlet indicated a ‘rift’ among the militants belonging to ASP, SHO Anar Khan said that investigation was under way.

Responding to the query whether the deceased were ‘militants’ who had been murdered by other ‘militants’, the officer said that at this stage, the police could not say anything, as efforts were being made to ascertain the identity of these three men.

In recent weeks, the same militant outfit, by throwing similar pamphlets at crime scenes, had claimed responsibility for the killing of four policemen in SITE, a deputy superintendent of traffic police and his driver in Azizabad, and the PQR officer on the Northern Bypass.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2017