50-year-old assistant sub-inspector martyred in Lines Area gun attack

Ten days after a head constable succumbed to the injuries he had suffered in the July 11 Korangi attack, an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) was murdered in Lines Area on Thursday after the policeman identified himself to his assailant.

The attack was carried out in the Jut Line (Jutland Lines) locality, which falls in the Brigade police station’s jurisdiction. The deceased police officer was identified as 50-year-old ASI Ghulam Muhammad. His body was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).

Police said the ASI was posted at the investigation wing of the Artillery Maidan police station. They said the officer was a resident of Lines Area and was attacked at a paan shop in the same locality.

Quoting witnesses, the police said the attacker had approached the officer and shot him after asking his name. Police said the ASI breathed his last on the spot, while the assailant escaped with his target’s official weapon.

Police and Rangers cordoned off the area to hunt for the attacker, but no one had been arrested until the time this report was filed. The investigators have obtained the CCTV camera footage of the attack.

An FIR has been registered at the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) police station under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Sindh police chief Mushtaq Mahar has ordered District South SSP Sheraz Nazeer to submit a detailed report on the incident.

SSP Nazeer told The News that the ASI was unquestionably a victim of a targeted attack. However, he said the police are not ruling out any possibility. “We’re also looking into the recent murders of policemen and other killings as well.”

The officer said the police are also looking into the nexus of the elements operating in the city with the backing of India’s spy agency Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), including a political party and separatist groups.

Previous attacks

On July 3, Police Constable Noman Ali was shot in Mehmoodabad on his way home after work. On July 11, Head Constable Asghar Ahmad, 35, was riding his motorbike when the pillion rider on another two-wheeler shot him near Bappan Park in the Korangi No. 5 locality.

He suffered critical injuries and fell off his motorcycle. The suspects escaped with his pistol. The injured policeman was taken to the JPMC, where he passed away on July 13.

The following day, Police Constable Muhammad Hanif was critically wounded in a firing incident in the Babar Market locality, which falls in the Landhi police station’s jurisdiction. He was taken to the JPMC.

Interestingly, the assailants escaped with the official weapons of all the three policemen martyred this month in the Mehmoodabad, Korangi and Lines Area gun attacks.

Karachi has witnessed some half a dozen targeted attacks on police officials this year, and in majority of these incidents, the assailants took off with the official weapons of the deceased, suggesting that the same group may be behind these incidents.

Besides the attacks on policemen, a retired Rangers officer was martyred in a grenade attack at his bakery in the Sachal area, while a man and his nephew were reportedly killed by a separatist group in the Garden neighbourhood. Karachi also witnessed the foiling of an act of terrorism late last month, when a separatist group of Balochistan backed by RAW had attacked the Pakistan Stock Exchange.

Police action

The law enforcement agencies have not been sitting idle, as they have intensified their actions and arrested a number of suspects, particularly those belonging to the separatist groups of Balochistan as well as those of Altaf Hussain’s Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London.

On July 22, the CTD had arrested five militants associated with the banned sectarian organisation Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as well as claimed to have recovered a hit list from them. According to the list, the organisation’s target killing teams were to attack police and other law enforcement officials in Karachi.