Families protest against killings of two men in encounter

Adamant that the encounter was a fake one, families of two men who were killed in a shootout with police a day ago staged a protest on Sunday by blocking the main Shahrah-e-Pakistan. 

The men, identified as Iqbal and Ismail, were shot dead by the Sharea Faisal police allegedly after they were caught red-handed looting a family in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar area.  However, the two men's families claim that they were both tailors by profession and had gone to the area to buy clothes and other materials.

As per the police, Iqbal and Ismail were arrested in an injured condition after the shootout and were said to have died while on the way to the hospital. Sharea Faisal police's SHO Mohammad Sarwar claimed the shootout occurred when the robbers opened fire at the police. He said that the police recovered looted items including cell phones from the possession of the two alleged robbers.

The SHO added that the suspects were identified by 20 other people who they had also robbed. The families ended the protest after the police showed them the complaints filed by other victims of their sons’ robberies. 

According to SHO Sawar, on Saturday, the accused first looted a medical student, Usman, while he was standing at a bus stop and deprived him of his mobile phone and wallet. Later, he added that the men were robbing a family when the woman in the car gathered the courage to scream for help.

The SHO also said that Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) AD Khowaja had even appreciated the police team’s efforts and announced a reward of Rs100,000 for them.