Four SHOs removed for maltreatment of Sindh Rawadari March’s women protesters

Four Station House Officers (SHOs) have been removed from their post for maltreatment of women protesters during a demonstration that was organised outside the Karachi Press Club on October 12 to condemn the extrajudicial killing of blasphemy suspect Dr Shahnawaz Kunbhar.

As the Sindh government had imposed the Section 144, police disrupted the protest. However, in doing so they maltreated the protesters, including women, who were thrashed and dragged on the road.

Many videos of the violence against civil society protesters went viral on social media, which resulted in widespread condemnations of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Sindh government and provincial police.

According to a notification, Garden SHO Inspector Panwar Kumar, Nabi Bux SHO Malik Ashfaq, Eidgah SHO Zaheer Khan and Preedy SHO Agha Mashooq Ali have now been removed.

The notification also reads that Inspector Pervez Solangi has been appointed as the Preedy SHO, Sub-Inspector Zubair Nawaz as the Garden SHO, Inspector Muhammad Rashid Ashraf as the Risala SHO, and Sub-Inspector Shakir Hussain as the Nabi Bukhsh SHO.

Earlier, as many as nine police officers were suspended for the maltreatment of women protesters during the October 12t demonstration in Karachi to condemn the extrajudicial killing of the blasphemy suspect.

Those officers were accused of manhandling peaceful protesters of the Sindh Rawadari March outside the press club amid the Section 144 imposition, and departmental action was recommended against them.

Those officers included the SDPOs of the Garden, Eidgah, Keamari and Baldia police stations, and the SHOs of the Garden, Risala, Preedy and Nabi Bux police stations.