Karachi News


DAWN/The News International, KARACHI	24 August 2004, Tuesday, 7 Rajab 1425

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2 accused set on fire in police lock-up, 12 police officials suspended
Watchman found dead; housewife commits suicide
7 women gang-raped in Chiniot
7 ‘al-Qaeda suspects’ held in Vehari
4 Uzbek militants killed in N Waziristan
US helicopters hit Taliban positions
2 accused set on fire in police lock-up, 12 police officials suspended
KARACHI: Two accused received serious burn injuries in the police lockup within the Gizri police jurisdiction early Monday morning.
The injured victims were rushed to the Civil Hospital where their condition was stated to be critical.
According to the police, Saleem (41) and Ameerzada (30) were nabbed after an exchange of firing when they were moving about suspiciously in their jurisdiction. The police also claimed to have recovered two TT pistols from their possession. After their arrest, police produced them before the court and got a remand.
The injured persons said that the cops poured petrol on them and set them on fire, the MLO added.
At the hospital, two women one claiming to be the wife of Ameerzada, and other sister of Saleem, rejecting the police story regarding the arrest, said that police had picked them up five days ago from the surroundings of their houses.
Naseem Akhtar, mother of Saleem, told The News that her son had been arrested on August 9 from his house in Shireen Jinnah Colony and later the second injured was also arrested from the same locality on a different charge.
Police had demanded Rs50,000 as bribe for their release and when they could not arrange the amount, on August 18 police declared their arrest after an encounter from an area, they had never been to, she added. "My son had been suffering from a bladder infection and was under treatment in Kutyana Memon Hospital, where a surgery was scheduled for August 11, after two days of his arrest," she claimed and showed the hospital prescriptions to the media men.
The MLOs were of the view that, as injured persons suffered over 90 per cent injuries, it was clear indication that petrol had been poured on them or that they had sprinkled it on themselves. However, the injured were in police custody. So, the million-dollar question: who provided them petrol and matchbox.
Ruling out the latter possibility, they speculated that petrol had been poured on them which resulted into the over 90 per cent burn injuries, a clear, visible threat to the lives of both.
The TPO Clifton, Muneer Ahmed Shaikh, told The News that, the accused were arrested on August 18 and an FIR 144/2004 was registered against them.
"I have suspended ASI Faiz Muhammad, the Duty Officer, and Badar-ul-Islam, the cop on sentry duty for negligence, and put them under arrest after registering a case under Section C-155 of Police Order, 2002," he added.
The IG Sindh, Syed Kamal Shah, has ordered suspension of 12 police officials, including Mehboob Rasheed, the ASP Darakhshan; Malik Ehsan, the DSP, Investigations; Abdul Ghaffar Jummani, the SHO, Gizri; Investigating Officer, SI Arif Usman; SI Manzoor Ahmed, duty officer; ASI Faiz, Head Muharrar; ASI Hanif; HC Abid, the guard commander; and cops Badar, Salman, Barkat and Iqbal, the four policemen on sentry duty.
A three-member enquiry committee, headed by Dr Sanaullah Abbasi, the TPO Sadar, has also been constituted, which will investigate the matter and a written request has been sent to the government for a judicial enquiry, the spokesman added.
Accordimg late night development, police have declared one more person, Waseem, present in the lockup with the victims who also suffered burns on his hands. Waseem was stated to be arrest under section 54, whose statement as an eyewitness could protect the policemen, sources added.
Watchman found dead; housewife commits suicide
KARACHI: The body of a watchman was found, an unidentified man lost his life in a traffic accident and a housewife committed suicide on Monday, police said.

Ali Wast Khan, 38, resident of Katchi Abadi Ittehad Town was found dead at the rooftop of a coach that was parked in front of a motor workshop in the same vicinity within Mouchko police jurisdiction, police said.

His body was shifted to the Civil Hospital, where medico-legal experts said unidentified persons had fired at him some time between the night of Sunday and Monday. The deceased sustained a single bullet in his face which pierced through his neck causing his instant death, they added.

The area police said the deceased was working as a watchman at a bus body-maker’s workshop and speculated his murder to be the cause of an old enmity.

Israr, a six-year-old son of Muhammad Razik, fell from his steps in his house on the first floor and was injured seriously in Fareed Colony Orangi Town in Mominabad police jurisdiction, police said.

The injured boy was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital it was transpired that the injured boy received serious head injuries and due to the closure of the Neurology Department he was referred to the JPMC, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

ACCIDENT: An unidentified 30-year-old man was crushed by a recklessly driven hit-and-run vehicle in Street No 2 near Dhobi Ghat within the Garden police precincts, police said. The injured was rushed to the Civil Hospital, where he breathed his last.

SUICIDE: Rahima Bibi, 22, wife of Syed Ali, resident of New Muslimabad locality ended her life by hanging herself in her house within the Quaidabad police jurisdiction, police said.

The area police said the deceased got married about three years ago. After an argument with her spouse over some domestic problem she hanged herself. However, the medico-legal experts have preserved viscera on police’s request to ascertain her real cause of death.

BURN VICTIM DIES: Rukhsana, 24, wife of Altaf, resident of Rahimabad Korangi had suffered serious burn injuries, while she was cooking in her house on August 15. She was rushed to the Civil Hospital with 79 per cent burn wounds doctors said, where she breathed her last.

INJURED: Muhammad Asif, resident of Buffer Zone was hit by a stray bullet when he was passing near Defence Phase VII within Defence police jurisdiction. The injured was rushed to the JPMC.

ELECTROCUTED: A teenaged boy was electrocuted in a mosque in Sector 11-G New Karachi locality, police said. Haseeb Aslam, 14 had gone to the mosque for learning of Quraan Shareef where he got an electric shock and died. His body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where his relatives took it without legal formalities.

BODY FOUND: A partially decomposed body of an unidentified 65-year-old man was found from the Manora Beach in Jackson police jurisdiction. The body was shifted to the Civil Hospital and placed in the Edhi morgue.

ARRESTS: The Gulshan-e-Iqbal police have arrested three persons Haji Hassan, Zia and Abdul Majid, the alleged carjackers and claimed to have recovered three stolen cars and arms from their possession.

The Gulistan-e-Jauhar police arrested Suhail and his two accomplices while they were snatching a taxi from Aftab Ahmed. Police claimed to have recovered two TT pistols from their possession.

The Samanabad police have nabbed one Nasir Saleem while he was snatching a mobile phone from a man in their jurisdiction. Police claimed to have recovered a pistol and snatched mobile phone from his possession.

Meanwhile, police have arrested eight accused persons on different charges and claimed to have recovered four pistols, a repeater gun and narcotics from their possession from different parts of the city.

7 women gang-raped in Chiniot

CHINIOT: Seven young women were gang-raped by five armed men here on Monday. The seven women of Chak No 151/JB, Mahsonwala, were going to village farms when five armed men, Imtiaz s/o Ashraf, Munir s/o Barka, Allah Ditta s/o Shahadat and their two accomplices intercepted them at gunpoint. They took the women to fields and gang-raped them turn by turn and fled. The Chiniot ASP ordered the SHO of Laugrana police station to register a case and arrest the culprits.

7 ‘al-Qaeda suspects’ held in Vehari

MALAKWAL/MULTAN: Police have arrested seven "foreigners" on suspicion of links to the al-Qaeda in Malakwal as a police and intelligence team detained the father of another alleged al-Qaeda operative at a village near Vehari.

After receipt of a directive from the Interior Ministry, the police arrested the seven Afghans living in Malakwal without valid immigration documents. The police are interrogating the arrested men to ascertain whether they were foreigners or Pathans from the NWFP. If proved that they are Afghans they would be sent to jail in Lahore, a policeman close to investigation said.

On the other hand, relatives of the arrested men, said the suspects were not foreigners but belonged to the NWFP, who had been living at Malakwal for the last several years and were not linked with any militant group.

A police team aided by intelligence personnel raided the house of an alleged al-Qaeda operative at a village near Vehari and recovered documents, computer CD on the night between Sunday and Monday, sources said, adding the alleged operative’s father was detained in the raid.

However, a senior district police official, requesting anonymity, did not confirm any arrest, saying the house was raided some 14-15 days ago and the documents and the computer CD recovered in the raid were handed over to intelligence officials.

The sources said the police raided the house of alleged al-Qaeda militant Ghulam Mustafa, 34, in village 196/EB, Vehari, some 100 kms south-east of Multan, and arrested his father Abdul Rashid, 65, a retired Beldar of the Irrigation Department. Mustafa is allegedly among the nine al-Qaeda terrorists, who were arrested by the law-enforcement agencies in Islamabad for planning attacks on the President House, Prime Minister House, GHQ of Army, US embassy, Army House and Chief Minister House. The police also recovered weapons from the house and took the father to an unknown location for interrogation, the sources added.

Mustafa reportedly joined the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant group in 1990 and took part in the Jihad against the then USSR. Later, he joined the Taliban. "He (Mustafa) belonged to a poor family. He was a son of a fourth class employee (Beldar). But now they are wealthy and land holders," a relative said.

The sources said the police had detained Abdul Rashid to get information from him about the foreigners who visited his home in recent past. Ghulam Mustafa’s brother-in-law Zulfikar Ahmed said: "Vehari Sadar police detained me for six hours when I went to the police station to see my father-in-law Abdul Rashid but they (the police) questioned me about the foreigners particularly Arabs, whom I never saw in the house of my in laws." Zulfiqar ruled out that Ghulam Mustafa had been in close contact with Osama bin Laden or Arab fighters.

4 Uzbek militants killed in N Waziristan

ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed four Uzbek militants in a shoot-out and captured one foreigner and a Pakistani in a raid on Monday in the tribal area, officials said.

The operation, near Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency, coincided with a big assault on the other side of the border by US helicopter gunships and hundreds of Afghan and US-led troops.

The Pakistani military said four foreign militants had been killed in the operation against their hide-out about 18 kilometres north of Miranshah, but did not give their nationality.

"Security forces raided the hide-out early on Monday morning and destroyed it successfully," it said, adding that the troops had also captured machineguns, rocket launchers, assault rifles and a huge quantity of ammunition.

"Four bodies have been brought so far and it is possible the number of casualties may be more," military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said in a statement. The operation was launched after intelligence reports said that some foreign fighters were hiding on the outskirts of Miranshah, said Sultan.

A provincial government official, who asked not to be named, said all the foreigners were from Uzbekistan. He said the men were thought to have been among a large group of militants pursued by the military since March in the neighbouring South Waziristan.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Pakistani troops took up positions in two towns of North Waziristan on Monday amid reports of an offensive by Afghan forces, officials and residents said.

Pakistani officials in the tribal area of North Waziristan said Pakistani troops were blocking the border in tandem with Afghan forces mounting an offensive on their side in the south-east province of Khost.

"An operation is under way on the Afghan side. The troops have been deployed on the Pakistan side to arrest suspects fleeing the operation," a local security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

"We have sealed the border in the area to prevent entry of people from Afghanistan," said a local administration official in North Waziristan’s capital Miranshah. Eight gunship helicopters were seen ferrying the troops to Hasal Khel and Bangi Dar towns, just three km from the Afghan border, witnesses said.

The security official said soldiers from the Pakistani army and paramilitary Frontier Corps arrived in the area early on Monday to seal escape routes from Afghanistan. Residents in villages along the border reported hearing gunfire and the roar of warplanes from the Afghan side.