KARACHI: While media reports originating in the Pakistan-Iran border area near Jivani in Balochistan say Noor Mohammad, alias Baba Ladla, has been gunned down, most sources in Lyari believe otherwise, while police, too, are waiting for an intimation from the home department to confirm that he was the one killed by the border guards.

Baba Ladla was killed with his two Iranian friends when the border guards tried to stop them and fired at them after they refused to surrender, leaving all the three dead, according to news reports circulated on TV channels and in newspapers a day ago.But sources in Lyari deny the news.

A former activist of the Pakistan Peoples Party was among the first ones to watch the news on a TV channel. “But there was no official confirmation,” he said while speaking to Dawn over the phone. “The police are consistently denying the report whereas our people near Jivani, Balochistan, are giving us mixed reports as well.” A local newspaper in Lyari is the main source of information at this time. Read by police officials, gangsters and residents alike, the lead of the newspaper claimed that its correspondent spoke to Baba and that he was still around the Pak-Iran border near Jivani. “

The reason everybody thought one of the three men was Baba was because he was residing in Gwadar 15 days earlier,” said a reporter working with the newspaper. Most gang lords of Lyari are on the run considering the gang rivalry in the area as well as the ongoing operation led by the Rangers. Even as people are still sceptical about the news of Baba’s death, they can’t help thinking about the implications if the information is confirmed. Mohammad Sulaiman Baloch, a schoolteacher from Saifi Lane, where a six-month-long gun battle recently ended after a ceasefire between the warring gangs, said: “Most people will be relieved if the news of his death is correct.”

Explaining, he said shopkeepers and traders paid extortion to a number of splinter groups. “Since most of these gang lords are not in town, any goon and small time criminal may seek extortion. Extortion amount, which was to be given to two people earlier, is now distributed among six groups,” he said. Also, it was easier to speak to an elder or head of a gang and ask for some “relief, or consideration”. But now even that is out of the question as these ‘new gangsters’ are also armed and pose a serious threat as they are not controlled by anyone. “In such a situation, the ongoing operation by the law-enforcement agencies is the only saving grace for us. Because of it, such groups are also in hiding,” he adds.

If one of the gang leaders is killed, there will be only one controlling authority. “Uzair is politically connected and more resourceful than Baba Ladla,” says Haji Ramzan, a teashop owner in Lea Market. “And as was clear in the last general elections, the PPP has no choice but to tag along with these gangs they had created and patronised.” As for the news of Baba’s death, a resident, Abdul Wahab, said: “There’s a rumour circulating every other day. It creates fear for a while followed up by people saying two completely different things and then it dissipates.”

SP-City Nazeer Shah also explains that there has been no confirmation of the incident. “We get intimation from the home department about incidents occurring near the Pak-Iran border as that area is beyond our jurisdiction. At present everyone is speculating. We had information that during the operation most of these gangsters had taken refuge either around the Pak-Iran border near Mund, Turbat or around Jivani, Gwadar. Now, whether he has been killed or not will depend on what we hear from officials in the home department.” Acting inspector general of Sindh Ghulam Haider Jamali, however, said the police department had sent photographs and profile of Baba Ladla to the Balochistan IG to seek confirmation of the report.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2014