Footage shows Intizar was killed in cold blood, says father

The CCTV footage of the January 13 incident in the upscale Defence neighbourhood shows that Intizar Ahmed was killed in cold blood, the man’s father told The News on Tuesday.

The father, Ishtiaq Ahmed, said he had watched the CCTV footage of the incident on Monday night that showed Intizar’s car stopping after two plain-clothes men on a motorbike intercepted his vehicle.

He said the men searched the car thoroughly, but when a black car arrived on the scene and an unidentified man in the vehicle signalled to the plain-clothes men, they got on their motorbike and rode away.

“After that, Intizar reversed his car, but two plain-clothes men on another motorbike arrived on the scene and got off the two-wheeler. One fired at Intizar from the right side of the car while the other went to the left side and started aerial firing.”

On the basis of what he saw in the CCTV footage, the father termed the incident a “cold-blooded murder”. He also pointed an accusing finger at the investigators, saying that the police had refused to give him a copy of the footage.

“If there is no ambiguity in this case and the people responsible for the murder of my son have been arrested, why are the police afraid of making the footage public?” asked Ishtiaq.

Reiterating his claim, he said he did not see any girl with Intizar in the footage, asking that if there was a girl present at the time of the incident, why the police were trying to keep her in anonymity.

ACLC SSP’s guards

The News has learnt that there was no picketing in the locality where the January 13 incident took place and that the Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) officials booked for Intizar’s murder were deployed for ACLC SSP Muqaddas Haider’s security. When South SSP Javed Akbar Riaz was enquired why a team deployed for the ACLC chief’s security was checking vehicles, he said Haider should be asked that question.  

Another CCTV footage

SSP Riaz said there was no ambiguity in the case and what happened at the time of Intizar’s murder was recorded, the CCTV footage of which was available to the police. Asked if it was the same footage that the police had shown to Intizar’s father, Riaz said no, adding that the footage the police were investigating had not been shown to anyone yet.  

Govt wants judicial enquiry

The provincial government has written to the Sindh High Court (SHC) registrar to request that a sitting judge of the court be appointed to conduct a judicial enquiry into Intizar’s murder.

The letter says the police have registered an FIR and started investigating, but the father of the victim has expressed lack of confidence in the police investigation and requested a judicial enquiry into the murder.

The SHC registrar was informed that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has offered his condolences to the father and assured him that the murder of his son will be investigated judicially to ascertain the motive and intention of the assailants and to clearly identify the culprits so that a strong case can be made against them to bring them to book.

Earlier, according to the provincial chief executive’s spokesman, Murad talked to Intizar’s father over the phone and assured him of the government’s cooperation in the investigation of his son’s murder.

“I understand your grief and pain,” the CM told Ishtiaq. “Whatever you say will happen. If you want a judicial investigation, we shall do that. Just give me a day to finalise all the formalities.”