KARACHI: Killing of two suspected gangsters in an ‘encounter’ in a PIB locality on Thursday triggered protest on main University Road where police resorted to aerial firing to disperse the protesters, said officials.

PIB Colony SHO Haroon Korai said that the police encounter took place at Sukhia ground in Baloch Para of PIB Colony late on Wednesday night.

“After an exchange of gunfire two suspects were killed and two others arrested in wounded condition,” added the officer.

The deceased and the wounded were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. The deceased were identified as Bilal and Amir while the injured were Masood and Mohammed Aslam.

The officer claimed that they were ‘notorious gangsters’ belonging to Ahmed Ali Magsi gang in the area who were “involved in extortion, drugs sale and rape of women”.

Mr Korai added that one police constable, Saeed, was also wounded when the suspects ran their car over him in their bid to flee.

Another officer said that an alleged extortionist, Ali, alias Grenade, was arrested in a wounded condition after an ‘encounter’ with the police on April 27 in PIB Colony.

The injured suspect revealed that Bilal, alias Bilawal, was involved in “recent episode of bhatta collection,” upon which information was collected from all sources, added the officer.

The officer claimed that there were at least 10 FIRs registered against the deceased suspect Bilal at the PIB Colony police station while record of other deceased was also being collected.

The police claimed to have recovered four TT pistols and one Suzuki car from them.

Relatives protest

On Thursday, relatives of the suspects protested against police for killing the two men.

The protesters blocked both sides of the main University Road near old Sabzi Mandi. Resultantly traffic was suspended on the main artery.

SHO Korai added that the police resorted to aerial firing to disperse the mob. He claimed that no one was hurt during the police action and all protesters dispersed peacefully.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2021