The botched operation of Oct 24, which was carried out by the Hyderabad police in Shikarpur against kidnappers of a mango orchard contractor and ended up in his death, has shown the inability of law enforcers to execute tactical missions in ‘high-risk situations’.

Inquiries by Dawn have revealed that the Hyderabad police had limited information about the area’s topography. Besides that, unnecessary haste, friction among officers, overreliance on a particular officer, and scant knowledge of the terrain have been cited as factors behind the failed operation. The officers also showed a lack of judgement in their timing of operation.

Orchard contractor Hassan Nasir Nizamani was kidnapped on Oct 11 in Tandojam and the kidnappers had demanded Rs150m in ransom. Subsequently, the police had conducted the operation only to find Nizamani’s body in Shikarpur’s semi-riverine area of Dakhan.

However, the mission, fraught with a number of problems, was not even led by a DSP level officer. Instead, the Hyderabad police team was led by SHO Latifabad A-Section police station Naik Mohammad Khoso.

With death of kidnap victim, friction among officers and poor planning are cited as key factors behind failed rescue operation

Talking to Dawn, Hyderabad SSP Dr Farrukh said: “Every hostage rescue operation is fraught with risks. It was one of many raids conducted by us for Nizamani’s recovery on Oct 24.” He insisted that coordination with police of other districts was also there.

However, on condition of anonymity, some senior officers contended that the Hyderabad police’s “unusual haste, credit seeking mindset and absence of a well thought-out plan” resulted in the failure.

“It was a wrong decision to enter the area without planning. And due to that, the dacoits killed Nizamani while Hyderabad police killed one dacoit [Aijaz Babbar],” said one senior officer from Karachi.

“The police party could have waited for some time. The team was provided with a night vision drone for surveillance by Sukkur police,” claimed another source, saying that the team led by the SHO opted for a solo flight instead.

And the claim that they killed dacoit Aijaz in exchange of gunfire was “not true” because he was in police custody for the last few days, the officer further said.

It is pertinent to mention that SHO Khoso was one of the four joint investigation team (JIT) members formed by the Hyderabad SSP. The JIT, as one entity, wasn’t part of the operation in Dakhan and SHO Khoso had himself confirmed to Dawn that four out of five of its members — Munir Abbasi, Aslam Bullo, Farhan Din Memon and JIT head DSP Tandojam Asad Channa — were not part of the operation.

The Dakhan area is at the junction of three districts — Shikarpur, Larkana and Dadu. But the Hyderabad team didn’t take the police of these areas into confidence for laying a siege although the gang was positioned at elevated surface, having a bird’s eye view of area.

The Shikarpur SSP was said to be busy in another identical operation.

Larkana SSP Rohal Khoso did reach there, but exactly whether he entered the operation’s area couldn’t be confirmed. Post-encounter claims of the Hyderabad police, however, seemed to be after-thoughts.

“We reached the hideout on Aijaz’s pointation. It was a bit difficult as dacoits kept us engaged for an hour or two in the radius of around 2kms. We even heard screams of Nizamani, who had seen us. The captors sensed that Nizamani will put them in trouble and they killed him,” SHO Khoso said.

Police infighting

The Dawn findings showed that friction or liking/disliking among police officers was noticeable in the whole episode.

DIG Police Hyderabad range Tariq Dharejo had mainly coordinated with the Khoso-led team. The DIG had been part of an operation that led to safe recovery of a Matiari-based Hindu trader from Kashmore.

DSP CIA Hyderabad Aslam Langah — who has historically been part of such cases — was not part of the team for some “friction between him and the SSP.” CIA Hyderabad in-charge Karim Abbasi was missing, too.

“I spoke to Aslam, who was in Karachi, but he gave personal reasons for his absence,” said DIG Dharejo.

“There is an explanation by the police team that they were waiting for reinforcements from Dadu and Larkana on road when suddenly phone number of the main culprit was traced by a locator for a while. The police felt that after seeing them the gang could relocate the hostage and, therefore, decided to act”, said the DIG.

He said that sometimes police had to depend on ground staff assessments and decisions, adding that “operations always have a margin of error and judgements.”

Meanwhile, Hassan Nizamani’s heirs are still in shock. “We were even ready to pay ransom to save Hassan’s life,” said Wali Nizamani, Hassan’s younger brother, in a voice filled with emotions.

“The caller had demanded Rs150 million, four Rado wrist watches and four mobile phones from us in our first contact made through my brother’s phone,” he said and added that he had given one vehicle and a driver to assist the police.

The kidnapping victim Hassan

Nizamani’s father, Faiz Mohammad, was a left-wing activist. He had named his son after a leading leftist politician, comrade Hassan Nasir.

Ikhtiar Jatoi’s notoriety

Ikhtiar Jatoi, leader of the gang that had kidnapped Nizamani, earned notoriety while living in Tandojam over a decade back when he started looting people at banks.

It was a time when Hyderabad police was led by SSP Irfan Ali Baloch.

Ikhtiar Jatoi was jailed in upper Sindh only to resurface here while Adeel Chandio was SSP of Hyderabad.

Giving details about him, DSP Langah said: “In an encounter in Tandojam, a policeman was injured and Ikhtiar Jatoi had received bullet wounds in his eye, but he survived.”

Jatoi’s gang kidnapped Nizamani on Oct 11 in a Toyota car while he was on his way to a 200-acre mango orchard in Tandojam actually owned by a woman. Nizamani had been managing the orchard for the last 17 years under a contract. He was a resident of Tando Qaiser, Hyderabad.

Initially, police picked up Aijaz Babbar through geo-fencing of his phone. “He was one of the kidnappers who took away Nizamani,” the SSP said. Babbar’s family, while receiving his body, however, disputed police’s claim and alleged that he was gunned down by police in a “fake encounter”.

It is said that someone wanted to buy the orchard managed by Nizamani and wanted him to end the contract. Police were looking into its background further.

DIG Dharejo said one Sheru Mallah was the mastermind of the kidnapping, who was sacked by Nizamani in the last mango season. Nadeem Mallah was said to be his patron.

“Fauji Chandio and Wahab Veesar are involved in the kidnapping besides Ikhtiar Jatoi,” said the DIG.

The botched operation, however, is not the first one.

In 2012, a noted neurosurgeon of Sindh, Prof Dr Aftab Qureshi, was killed in an operation led by Citizens-Police Liaison Committee chief Ahmed Chinoy and Anti-Violent Crime Unit of Noorul Haq Rind on May 30.

Five policemen of Hyderabad, including SHOs Wahid Bux Leghari and Hassan Abdi, were also killed on Jan 10, 2015 in Mirpurkhas. Both encounters are considered strategically flawed yet dacoits like Shafiq alias Chhoto Narejo were killed in Mirpurkhas encounter.

Senior police officers believe that the whole episode has again brought into focus some key problems in the police department.

Sources said the issues of friction among officers, lack of planning, dependency on individuals, and personal likes and dislikes are needed to be addressed. There is also a need to train officers in special tactics such as close-quarters combat, crisis negotiation, and de-escalation, if the department wants to improve its image, the sources added.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2024