Six-member JIT formed to investigate Intizar’s murder

A joint investigation team (JIT) has been constituted on the order of Sindh’s chief minister to investigate the murder of Intizar Ahmed, the 19-year-old boy who was shot dead by Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) officials in the upscale Defence neighbourhood on the night of January 13.

The boy’s father Ishtiaq Ahmed, along with his brother and lawyer, reached the CM House on Monday with the request to meet the chief executive. The security staff told them that CM Syed Murad Ali Shah was out of office and that they could not meet him without an appointment.

Ahmed and company, however, kept waiting for the chief minister until someone phoned Murad about their urgent request for a meeting. The CM directed his staff to show Ishtiaq to his chamber.

The chief executive arrived shortly and met the father, and on his request directed Home Secretary Qazi Shahid Pervez to constitute a JIT headed by the chief of Sindh’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD).

The home secretary constituted a six-member committee headed by Additional IGP Sanaullah Abbasi, with the South Zone DIG, an ISI and an MI representative not below the rank of major, an IG and a Special Branch representative of equivalent rank of SP and a gazetted Pakistan Rangers officer as members.

The notification that was issued shortly after the CM’s order states that the JIT would conduct interrogations and investigate the matter within 15 days before submitting a report to the home department for taking necessary action.

On January 14 a high-ranking police officer had told The News that ACLC officials had claimed in their statement that they were at Bara Bukhari Lane No 5, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, DHA Phase-VII the previous night when they asked Intizar to stop his car.

They claimed that when the man tried to speed away, they fired at the vehicle’s tyres, but some of the bullets hit the occupant and he died on the spot. On January 15 police recorded the statement of a girl who claimed to be in the car with Intizar minutes before ACLC officials opened fire on the vehicle.

The girl, who remained unhurt and escaped the shooting site, told police that plain-clothes men carrying weapons had signalled their car to stop, but Intizar tried to speed away. On January 16 Intizar’s father said he had watched the CCTV footage of the incident the previous night and on the basis of what he saw, he termed the incident a “cold-blooded murder”.

On January 18 investigating officers told Geo News that two government-issued weapons were used in the fatal attack. The forensic tests of the eight weapons handed over to the investigation department showed that only two of the guns were fired at the crime scene.

On January 20 the Sindh High Court returned the provincial government’s request to hold a judicial inquiry into the murder, directing it to follow the orders already issued in such matters.