SUKKUR: A tug of war involving senior police officers has been going on since the October 14 attack on the vehicle carrying former Sindh Assembly member Shaheryar Shar.

The MPA had escaped unhurt in the attack which had left one of his companions dead and two others wounded. The attack was carried out in the riverine area of Rwanti, in Ghotki district, and initially it was claimed that the firing was made by gangsters. However, Ghotki SSP Hafizur Rehman Bugti got the SHO concerned, Abdul Shakoor Lakho of the Shaheed Deen Mohammad Leghari police station, booked on the complaint of Mumtaz Shar, the brother of deceased Ali Mohammad Shar.

SHO Lakho was arrested and eventually handed over to the Sukkur police after IGP Ghulam Nabi Memon instituted an inquiry into the whole episode as Lakho claimed that he was implicated in the case by the SSP for ulterior motives.

In the meantime, Sukkur DIG Pir Mohammad Shah, who has been assigned the investigation, briefed the IGP about the matter reportedly through a letter, whose contents have been kept secret.

Ghotki SSP Hafizur Rehman Bugti, however, held a press conference on Saturday evening to “disclose contents of the letter”. He told the media that the Sukkur DIG has accused him of keeping in contact with the gangster operational in the Rwanti riverine area. “Hyderabad DIG Tariq Dharejo had threatened me with consequences and misbehaved with me over telephone when I decided to arrest SHO Lakho in the attack case,” said SSP Bugti.

Insisting that Lakho was involved in the attack, the SSP appealed to the IGP and the judiciary to dispense justice to him.

The SSP revealed that Shar gang’s facilitator, Umar Khan Shar, was also killed in the October 14 attack along with former MPA’s associate, Ali Mohammad Shar.

SSP Bugti rejected the claim made, according to him, by the Hyderabad DIG, that he [the SSP] had plotted the attack to avenge the recent murder of Sardar Jalal Khan Bugti’s son allegedly by the Shar gang.

He said Hyderabad DIG falsely accused him in his letter that he (SSP Bugti] had remained in contact with gangsters

The SSP pointed out that SHO Lakho had been posted at the Shaheed Deen Mohammad Leghari police station and the adjacent areas for about 12 years and that the Rwanti SHO had been in close contacts with all hardened dacoits. He had been extending all available facilities, including official police weapons and ammunition, to the gangs.

The SHO had been attending functions organised by ringleaders of gangs operating in the Ubauro taluka of Ghotki district, the SSP alleged.

Published in Dawn, October 21th, 2024