Karachi youth Intizar's father wants son's murder case to be tried in ATC

Published January 28, 2018
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan and Ishtiaq Ahmed, the father of Intizar, a youth who was gunned down allegedly by ACLC officials earlier in January. ─ DawnNews
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan and Ishtiaq Ahmed, the father of Intizar, a youth who was gunned down allegedly by ACLC officials earlier in January. ─ DawnNews

The father of 19-year-old Intizar Ahmed, who was shot dead allegedly by Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) officials on Karachi's Khayaban-i-Ittehad on Jan 13, on Sunday expressed reservations over the probe into the murder of his son and called for the case to be tried in an anti-terrorism court.

On January 13, Intizar was chased down and shot dead allegedly by nine plainclothed ACLC personnel donning bulletproof vests after he had reportedly failed to stop his car at a picket on Khayaban-i-Bukhari.

The victim's father, Ishtiaq, put forth his demand during a press conference in Karachi, where he was flanked by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders Imran Khan and Imran Ismail.

Explore: Girl accompanying Intizar at the time of murder records statement

Khan, while addressing the media, said they had seen CCTV footage of the incident showing "no attempt [by Intizar] to flee" the ACLC officials who had asked him to stop his car.

"It's clear there was no attempt to flee from his end, and there is nothing to suggest that the ACLC officials were engaged in any kind of operation," Khan said, adding that no sort of provocation is evident on Intizar's end in the footage.

"His [Ishtiaq's] demand is that the case be tried in an ATC, because he is not satisfied with the JIT," Khan said. "He has suffered a great loss."

JIT's observations

Last week, the JIT had recorded statements of eight arrested ACLC personnel, Ishtiaq Ahmed, and others, and visited the crime scene in the Defence area.

Official sources earlier told Dawn that the JIT members in their initial observations noted that ACLC personnel had committed "criminal negligence" and "demonstrated height of unprofessional attitude" with their handling of the situation the night the youth was killed.

They said three inspectors of the ACLC were present at the crime scene and they did not give any permission to open firing on Intizar’s car during checking. Two of the inspectors later allowed Intizar to go.

In the meantime, two constables — Bilal and Daniyal — without seeking permission from their seniors (inspectors) opened indiscriminate firing on the teenager’s car. Bilal fired 12 bullets and Daniyal six, and one of the bullets fired by the former pierced through a window of the car and struck Intizar on his head.

Both the constables were not a part of the ACLC search and deployment team in the area, the sources said.

In their statement before the JIT, both Bilal and Daniyal said Inspector Tariq had forgotten his mobile charger and both of them came there to hand it over to him.

Interestingly, both the constables, who were recruited in 2011, were carrying pistols though they were not entitled to do so as pistols are only allotted to personnel of ASI rank and above.

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