• Steel Town police registers case of woman’s killing in crossfire against unknown persons
• Disappointed by FIR, victim’s family says they are ‘leaving the matter to Allah for justice’

KARACHI: Police on Sunday evening resorted to tear gas shelling and baton charge to get National Highway vacated from protesters, who had blocked the road on the second consecutive day in protest against the killing of a woman in an “encounter” two days earlier.

The protesters were seeking registration of a case against policemen, particularly the SHO of Steel Town, over the killing of the woman and injuries to her daughter in “crossfire” during an encounter between police and fleeing suspects on Thursday evening near Gulshan-i-Hadeed.

The police took the action after several rounds of negotiations with the organisers of the demonstration and victims’ relatives failed.

The police also registered the woman’s murder case against unidentified suspects.

The protesters, who were joined by political parties’ workers, civil society members and influential people from Thatta had staged a sit-in on the road that connects Karachi with Thatta and Hyderabad on Saturday afternoon, which continued till Sunday evening.

DIG-East Azfar Mahesar said that the blockade had caused hardships to commuters. Besides perishable goods worth millions of rupees being transported were destroyed because of the blockade, he added.

The officer said they had submitted ‘10 options’ to the protesters, but they did not accept any option for resolution of the problem.

Inspector General of Sindh police Ghulam Nabi Memon told Dawn on Sunday that there were witnesses to the tragic incident that had occurred during the ‘encounter’. He said the police were in pursuit of the fleeing suspects when the woman was killed.

The police have registered a case against unidentified suspects on behalf of the state.

The IG police said they engaged the organisers/relatives for negotiations on Saturday night and presented a host of options to them to allay their grievances.

The police had proposed to the protesters that an ‘honest’ police officer, Ali Raza, would conduct an inquiry into the incident or any other officer nominated by the aggrieved party.

Besides the relatives’ complaint, if submitted, would be made part of an FIR.

Initially, the protesters demanded a judicial inquiry upon which the police agreed that a letter would be sent to the home department to this effect. But later on, the protesters insisted on registration of a murder case against the Steel Town SHO, said the IGP.

He said the police have got proof that the SHO of Steel Town was not part of the encounter team.

Protesters’ version

In the evening, the police resorted to tear gas shelling and baton charge to get the highway vacated from the demonstrators near Ghaghar Phatak, said witnesses and protesters.

A brother of the victim woman, Yaqoob Samo, told journalists that they were ending their protest because they did not want hardships to commuters while on the other hand, no one was listening to their grievances as well.

“The FIR has been registered on the complaint of the killers,” claimed the brother. “We will not join the case by giving our statements,” he added.

“We held a protest and hoped that justice would be done with us, but we are now leaving this issue to Almighty Allah, who will provide better judgment to us,” he added.

“The FIR has not been registered as per our wishes, now we don’t accept justice from anyone,” said Mr Samo, alleging that “the police are the killers of my sister”.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2024