Anonymous killers: myth or reality?

ISLAMABAD: Karachi has a long list of unresolved, high-profile murders since long. If one really believes in police, the city also has scores of serial killers. The list includes cases of politicians, religious scholars, doctors, journalists etc.
Thousands of people are killed every year in Karachi alone by these “na-maloom” and their FIRs also remain “na-maloom.” So, what is this mystery all about? Who is the ultimate beneficiary of this term “na-maloom”? The suspect, the victim or the police?
In a recent case, the police arrested a suspect in the murder case of a well-known scholar. Initially, an FIR was against “na-maloom.” After arrest, the accused was charged on the basis of his alleged “confession.” The police asked the victim’s family to identify him and bring evidence. The family asked the police officer concerned how could they identify someone whom they had not seen killing the victim. So, it’s not difficult to guess the possible outcome of the case.
In hundreds of such cases the benefit often goes to the suspect. And if he is innocent, it goes to the real culprits, as they remain free. For police, the case stands “closed” once it goes to the court. After acquittal, they don’t look for fresh evidence or in search of real killers.
There is hardly a well-known politician in this country that in the past had not been booked in “na-maloom” FIRs. But, when they came into power they use the same tactic against their opponents. In a situation like the one prevailing in Karachi for the last three decades or elsewhere in the country after 9/11, our state institutions have not addressed this crucial point and the failure of the investigation and prosecution branches. It is also quite understandable that in cases of terrorism, it’s not easy to provide witnesses but what about other evidences, which have often been destroyed for one reason or the other particularly in high-profile cases. Who should be hold responsible?
Same is the outcome of most of joint investigation team (JIT) reports. Most of these reports have no legal value, but it certainly helps top intelligence agencies.
I have my doubts about the final outcome of JTI report of 2013 Baldia factory fire in the SITE area in which 250 people were burnt alive. How the prosecution will deal with this case, which also has political implications, would be interesting to watch. But, the past JIT reports, many of which this scribe had seen, hardly provided any benefit to the prosecution in the court.
Legal experts believe that no statement given in police custody has any legal value unless recorded before a judicial magistrate. Thus, by and large, the na-maloom theory often benefited police or suspect but not the victim’s family.
This issue generated a new debate when the decision to establish military courts was taken by Parliament for speedy trial and fast conviction. Governments blamed courts for not awarding convictions and delaying the cases. The judiciary on the other hand took the position that they give verdict on the basis of evidences. If the prosecution comes out with poor evidence, they are left with no choice but to acquit the person whether he was responsible or not.
Now, when the military courts will take up many of these cases, which would be transferred from the Anti-Terrorism Courts, the decision again has to be taken on the basis of evidence. The only difference might be that there would be fewer adjournments. But, will it fulfill the required legal procedure or not remains to be seen.
One thing is certain that the military courts can’t be an alternative to our normal legal course, but unnecessary delays in cases for years, mostly due to adjournments in ATC and sessions and superior courts have been quite disappointing. People generally want speedy justice. Secondly, the government can’t simply blame the judiciary, as they also need to answer about the cases of many suspects, who get acquittal because of poor prosecution.
Thousands of suspected terrorists have been arrested in the last few years, majority of whom were not produced before any court of law because the police or law enforcement agencies despite being convinced that they were not involved in terrorist activities did not have witnesses or enough evidence to prove the cases. How far such FIRs, registered by the state, against na-maloom, helped the police or the suspect in the trial court? An FIR is the most essential document of any case and therefore its timing is often considered as crucial part of the case.
Till this day, no one knows who had actually killed people like former Governor of Sindh Hakeem Mohammad Saeed or former MPA Mir Murtaza Bhutto or for that matter Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai or Maulana Mufti Mohammad Jamil. The cases of some of them even went to the respective courts, which tried the accused and set them free. So, the question remains if they had not killed them, then someone had? Why the police never search for the “real killers” or why we have such a poor prosecution?
Talking to some former IGPs and DIGs, it was learnt that that it all starts with the registration of FIR. In cases where initially the FIR names the assailant as “na-maloom,” the benefit often goes to the suspect. Thus, some of them believe that in murder cases private FIRs are more important to resolve them, but families normally avoid or are scared particularly when it comes to “terrorism.” The police hardly give them confidence and trust due to which many suspects are exonerated.
In many cases, where the police arrest suspects and implicate them in murder cases, the victim’s families are not sure whether they had arrested the right people or not. Thus, this vicious circle continued and it benefited hundreds of suspects. No one knows till this day whether they got acquitted because of poor prosecution or were falsely implicated by the police.
The word “na-maloom” was coined decades back to keep the cases wide open for the investigators. The FIRs, registered as State VS na-maloom, were often used by successive regimes against their political opponents.
For instance, this term particularly targeted the PPP and MQM activists in the past. Hundreds of their workers are still facing cases some of which were even registered during General Ziaul Haq’s tenure. The MQM leaders and workers are facing cases registered from 1992 to 1995.
Registration of a case against “na-maloom” makes the job easier for the police, which have their own logic. They say when witnesses or family members of the victim don’t come forward they are left with no choice but to register a case against “na-maloom.” But, some police officers admit that they often face problems in the court if the suspect is not named in the FIR.
In the past, the civil and military governments used this term to crush political opponents.
Pakistan People’s Party became its worst victims when an “open FIR” was registered by Ferozeabad Police Station after PIA hijacking case in 1981. Hundreds of PPP workers were booked under this FIR as Al-Zulfiqar men, the organization which was formed, apparently to take revenge on the execution of former Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
There were around 100,000 FIRs only against the PPP in those 11 years. In PIA hijacking case, the prosecution submitted a list of some 250 witnesses but some of acquitted suspects disclosed that hardly one dozen appeared in the court.
Benazir Bhutto’s murder case is still in progress against some suspects, but will the conspiracy to kill will ever be unearthed? It was Pakistan’s most high-profile murder case of a decade during which even her own party completed its full tenure.
During the initial investigation, one senior FIA officer, involved in the investigation, told this scribe that most of the key suspects in the murder had already been killed in one way or the other. “We will never be able to find out the conspiracy to kill,” he added.
But, the murder of her brother Mir Murtaza Bhutto was even more mysterious. There were two different FIRs in the case. One was lodged by the state and the other by the PPP (Shaheed Bhutto). All those arrested in the case, including police officers as well as PPP (SB) activists, were all acquitted. The question still remains unanswered who had killed Murtaza and seven others on September 20, 1996. If it was a conspiracy, as many believe, then who had designed it?
Murtaza case was rare in a sense that never before the police officers up to the rank of DIG, DG, IB, SSP, SPs and constables were not only booked, but also arrested, jailed, tried and then acquitted. In a counter FIR, registered by the police, the PPP (SB) workers were arrested and tried but finally they were acquitted. So, no one knows till this day who had killed Mir Murtaza Bhutto.
In another high-profile case of the massacre of 200 people in Hyderabad all the suspects, including Dr Qadir Magsi, were acquitted after a long trial, but who killed them remains mysterious as it was in 1988 when the incident took place.
If one only goes through the police files of “high-profile” cases, it’s shocking to know that Karachi perhaps is the only city in South Asia, if not in the world, where you could find a large number of “serial killers.”
The most intriguing part of some of the murder mysteries of high-profile cases have been the manner in which they were “hushed up.” In these cases, the suspects were arrested, tried in court and acquitted, meaning they were not involved. But in none of these cases, the state directed the police for fresh investigation to find out the “actual assailants” or bring fresh evidences against the same suspects. So, unless our state institutions and the planners of National Action Plan or Karachi operation address this crucial aspect of the cases, they may find it difficult to prove the cases of target killings against “na-maloom.”