|
Target Killing hamper the business
April 22, 2011
Karachi, financial capital of the country continued to be bedeviled by the menace of targeted killings. Like the year of 2010, the unabated blood letting of target killings on ethnic and political considerations is continue in 2011 in the city.
Unidentified gunmen shot dead 212 people in the city in just 42 days of March and first half of the April, averaging just over five persons murdered every day in the city once called ‘City of Lights’ for lively life filled with hustle-bustle round the clock.
The data has been compiled by weekly Pulse with the help of newspapers and officials records.
Those killed during the period belong to the police, Mutahidda Qaumi Movement, former MQM workers, MQM-Haqqiqi, Awami National Party, People’s Students Federation, Lyari Aman Committee, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan-Noorani Group, Jeay Sindh Mahaz, Lyari gangs, Pakistan People’s Party, Jamaat-e-Islami and sectarian outfits.
Despite that continuous blood letting in the city, the performance of police and other law enforcement agencies have been pathetic, as they not only completely failed to blood shed but also failed to apprehend the people involved in the heinous crime in most of the cases.
A police officer on condition of anonymity told Pulse that majority of those killed during the period have political affiliations but were targeted on ethnic grounds.
He said that ethnic o-political parties, criminal gangs and banned sectarian outfits were involved in these killings.
Though there is no proof as who is involved in the recent spate of the target killings in Karachi, an official report containing details of the joint interrogation reports of all key government agencies relating to the 26 accused arrested in first half of 2010 and probed regarding target killing cases, showed that especially the entho-political parties and sectarian outfits
According to the investigation report released and published in newspapers, majority of the target killed allegedly belong to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) while the rest are MQM-Haqqiqi, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Muhammad, Awami National Party (ANP) and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan.
The confessional statements made before the Joint Investigation Team (having representatives of the ISI, IB, police, Special Branch, CID and Military Intelligence) and published in a section of press is horrific.
As one go through the confessional statements of the accused allegedly involved in the target killings in Karachi, it emerges that the political and sectarian groups are involved in the blood letting and they have trained and well armed groups to fight and kill their opponent and they do operate on the instruction of their high commands.
Most of the alleged target killers probed by the team, 14 out of the total 26, belonged to the city biggest political party, MQM. The MQM has been accused of killing and terrifying it opponents and controlling the city like mafia by its political opponents. Even Sindh Home Minister, Dr Zulfiqar Mira, who has been on ‘sick leave’ nowadays, more than once has accused MQM of being involved in target killing and extortions.
As per the list, fourteen out of these 26 are allegedly associated with the MQM, three are linked with the MQM-H, five with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, two with SSP and one each with the ANP and Sipah-e-Muhammad.
Those having affiliation with the MQM include Habib-ur-Rehman, s/o Majeed-ur-Rehman, Murad Akhtar Siddiqui, s/o Minhaj-uddin Siddique, Sultan alias Couple, s/o Muhammad Suleman, Jamal Abdul Nasir alias Commando, Tahir Ali alias Topchi, Imran alias Irfan Lamba, s/o S Mehboob Ali, Shariq Nafees, alias Sheri, s/o Muhammad Nafees Sheikh, Atif Rasheed, alias Ghora, s/o Abdul Rasheed, Ikram, alias Akoo, s/o Habibullah, Anus Bin Haroon, s/o Syed Abu Asad, Syed Abu Irfan, alias Urfi, s/o Syed Abu Asad, Muhammad Ishtiaq, alias Suleman, alias Police Wala, Muhammad Yaseen, s/o Abdul Haq, and Rizwan Mehmood, alias Khalid Chamber, s/o Mehmood Khan.
The five alleged suspects involved in target killing cases belonging to the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi include Waseem Ahmed, alias Barudi, s/o Samiullah, Muhammad Abdullah, alias Taimor, s/o M Riaz Shahid, Hafiz Ikhlaq, s/o Pervaiz Akhtar, Naseem Haider, alias Feron, s/o Ghulam Haider, and Asif Rasheed, alias Dumba, s/o Haroon Rashid.
The three accused associated with MQM-H are Maqbool Hussain, s/o Ali Hassan, Azhar Ali, alias Uncle, alias Baboo, s/o Abdul Rehman, and Abdul Aziz Ansari, s/o Abdul Naseer Ansari. The accused belonging to the SSP are Nasir Qadri, s/o A Qadeer, and Muhammad Shoaib, s/o Muhammad Ali. The ANP’s accused is Mashwar Nawaz, alias Mashwari, s/o Anwar Khan, whereas Sipah-e-Muhammad’s accused is Syed Ali Mehdi, alias Suleman, s/o Syed Jaffar Ali.
Except the MQM affiliated Murad Akhtar Siddiqui, s/o Minhaj-uddin Siddiqui, almost all others accused have been graded by the JIT as “black” for their alleged involvement in heinous crimes like killing, looting, etc. Murad Siddiqui has been graded as “white” as he has never been involved in any crime in the past and was even found innocent in the murder case in which he was apprehended.
Meanwhile, the HRCP in it recent report has also expressed serious concerns over the security situation in the city, saying at least 260 people were killed in incidents of target killings.
The quarterly report released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said that out of 260 people killed in targeted killings during January 2011 to March 2011, 169 had no political affiliation while the remaining 91 have been cited as activists of various political parties.
The menace of the target killing in Karachi has turned into a serious challenge to the law enforces in recent years, as in 2010 the targeted killings in Karachi outnumbered the total killings across the country in terror-related incidents including bomb blasts, suicide attacks, rocket attacks and other terror activities.
According to statistics, while 49 sporadic suicide attacks during 2010 killed at least 1,138 people across the country, the number of politically-motivated target killings only in Karachi stood at 1,510.
|