KARACHI: A 10-year-old boy was killed in an exchange of gunfire between policemen in civvies and a suspected criminal in Quaidabad, police said on Saturday.

The incident took place late on Friday night in which two policemen, another boy and the suspect sustained bullet wounds.

The police claimed that the boy was killed by the firing of the wounded suspect, who had been held and booked for murder.

A senior police officer claims that the boy died in firing by a suspected criminal

DIG East Amir Farooqi told Dawn that the two policemen in civvies were on intelligence-gathering duty in the Muslimabad area when they came across a suspect, identified as Sher Zaman.

The suspect allegedly opened fire on the police officials before entering a house. The policemen, identified as Tahir Sharafat, 26, and Attaullah, 26, chased the fleeing suspect and in an ensuing encounter they along with the suspect suffered bullet injuries.

The DIG said that two boys — Sajjad Khan, 10, and Umer Khan, 12 — were also caught in the crossfire.

‘Genuine encounter’

The DIG claimed that “it was a genuine encounter”.

“Policemen got injured and they fired in self-defence,” he said, adding: “The suspect fired 12-15 bullets and changed the magazine once.”

He said that he went inside a house and held the residents hostage. “The child [Sajjad] got hit by his firing ... this is confirmed by many eyewitnesses.”

Dr Seemin Jamali, the executive director of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), said Sajjad was brought in critical condition as he sustained bullet wounds in the head and right arm. He was put on a ventilator but died during treatment late on Friday night.

However, Umer’s injuries were not critical as he suffered a bullet wound in the leg. Policeman Tahir was later shifted to the Aga Khan University Hospital as his condition was stated to be serious. The suspect sustained a bullet wound in the leg, the JPMC official added.

Family seeks justice

“It is correct that Sajjad Khan, 10, was shot dead during an exchange of fire but we don’t know whose bullets caused his death,” said Saddam Husain, who said he was a cousin of the victim. “We don’t have money to file a case before court.”

“If we don’t get justice in this world, we would seek justice from Almighty Allah,” he added.

He said that the deceased boy was a student of class three.

His father, Adalat Khan, was a rickshaw driver and he originally hailed from Swat.

Suspect booked for boy’s murder

Quaidabad SHO Shoaib Qureshi said that the police registered a case against suspect Sher Zaman on murder, attempted murder and terrorism charges.

He said that the suspect had come back from his native village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa some five to six days ago. He claimed that the policemen got information about his arrival in the city and they tried to arrest him.

He said that the suspect knew the policemen as he had been arrested several times by the Quaidabad police in various cases. But he opened fire, which resulted in an exchange of gunfire between him and the police, he added.

The area SHO said that the suspect was also involved in murder, attempted murder, robberies and several other cases. He was also involved in a case pertaining to injuring two policemen.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2019