Mistaken identity: Mob lynches two employees of telecom company

KARACHI: In a tragic incident of mistaken identity, a lynch mob killed two employees of a telecommunication company on Friday mistaking them for kidnappers in Machar Colony, an underprivileged area of the city.

The incident took place within the limits of the Docks Police Station where two employees of the telecommunication company were tortured to death by the mob while they were on a visit to the area to check the signal strength and consistency of the cellular network in the area. The enraged mob pelted them with stones and construction blocks after the rumors circulated in the area that kidnappers had landed in the area to kidnap children. Both of them died on the spot. The mob also beat the cops and injured one of them when they attempted to save the victims. However, the police managed to dissuade the mob from setting them on fire but they torched their vehicle.

The bodies of the victims were shifted to the Civil Hospital, Karachi, where they were identified as Aiman Javed, an engineer, and Saeed Ishaq Panhwar, a driver. In the first place, police claimed that the mob had caught two men red-handed while they were trying to kidnap children. However, they changed their stance later.

Zone South police chief DIG Irfan Ali Baloch took notice of the brutal lynching and sought a report on the matter. Talking to journalists SSP Keamari Fida Hussain Janwari said both the lynched men were employees of a telecommunication company. They came here to check the signals in the area, where the rumours spread that they intended to kidnap the children.

“A mob attacked them. We are looking at it from different angles,” the SSP remarked, adding that all the suspects involved in the incident would be arrested. So far, police have identified the involvement of at least eight suspects in violence with the help of various recordings of the incident. Two suspects, identified by the eyewitness, have been taken into custody. They added that raids were being conducted to arrest more persons involved in the incident.

The news of the tragic lynching spread like a wildfire. The family members of the deceased came to know about the incident after it was highlighted on social media and news channels. A large number of the family members, relatives and neighbours of the victims reached the Civil Hospital, Karachi, and demanded justice. Javed was the youngest among his four siblings and an engineering graduate from the University of Sindh. He hailed from Thatta and residing in North Karachi.

“This is a doomsday for us,” said Javed’s cousin Arif. “Those who killed them brutally should be punished in a similar manner.” He explained that Javed along with the driver had gone to Machar Colony. They stopped a vehicle to inquire about a direction from a minor boy. “The area people mistook them as kidnappers. Someone started shouting that dacoits were kidnapping the boy, which caused panic and anger among the residents, who gathered and killed them,” he said. The driver hailed from Naushehro Feroze and had been working as a driver at the telecommunication company for last four to five months. He was the father of two girls, one of whom was born recently, and a boy. The bodies would be shifted to the native areas of the victims today (Saturday) for burial.