KARACHI: A day after the broad daylight killing of two accused, including a former SHO, facing trial in the Arshad Pappu murder case, investigators said on Wednesday that the murders were carried out by remnants of one of the gangs operating in Lyari.

Dismissed police inspector Chand Khan Niazi and his friend Abdul Rehman were gunned down in Saddar when they were heading home after hearing of the 2013 triple murder case against them at an antiterrorism court inside the judicial complex in Karachi central prison on a motorcycle on Tuesday.

This is the second such incident as in December 2021 another dismissed cop Javed Baloch and his friend Muhammad Mussadiq were shot dead in the Soldier Bazaar area while returning from the same ATC conducting trial of the Arshad Pappu murder case.

The two incidents forced the police to approach the court concerned for its permission to hold online hearings of certain cases due to “security risk” involved in the movement of remaining accused who are out on bail.

ATC’s permission sought for online hearings; FIR lodged under anti-terror law

‘Killers identified’

On Wednesday, Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon told Dawn that the killers who assassinated the two former SHOs had been identified.

“We are sure that these murders are linked with erstwhile Lyari gang warfare as the victims were known accused,” he said.

He said that raids were being conducted for the arrests of the suspected killers.

He said the police devised a strategy for protection of remaining accused and witnesses.

The city police chief said the arrangements had been made and permission was being sought from the court for holding online hearings from next week.

‘Return of gangsters to Lyari’

Social activists of Lyari on Wednesday said former SHO Niazi was a resident of Shah Beg Lane, where a significant number of his Mianwali community had been living since long.

They said he was a known personality in Lyari, who had ‘acquaintance’ with area drug peddlers even prior to the emergence of elements of gang warfare.

They said some gangsters, who had earlier gone underground or fled abroad after the launch of Karachi operation in 2013, had recently returned to Lyari and started “giving extortion chits to people”.

The activists said that there were reports that two close relatives of Arshad Pappu had been picked up on Tuesday night.

However, police expressed ignorance about any such arrest.

Case registered

The Preedy police lodged an FIR against unknown persons on the complaint of deceased SHO’s son Ghulam Mustafa Niazi.

The case was registered under Section 302 (premeditated murder), 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The complainant told the police that his father was a former police inspector and he was nominated in the murder case of Arshad Pappu.

He said victim Abdul Rehman was his father’s friend and he was also one of the accused in the same case.

This was also confirmed by the counsel of Lyari gangster Uzair Baloch.

Advocate Abid Zaman said that Abdul Rehman was a private person as he was a teacher in Balochistan. “The prosecution has not assigned any specific role to Rehman and he was simply booked for being associated with the main accused persons,” the lawyer said.

The two slain former SHOs along with Uzair Baloch and others were charged with murdering Arshad Pappu, his brother Yasir Arafat and their confidant Jumma Shera in March 2013.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2022