Shershah scrap market case: Tenth suspect acquitted

Tribune

KARACHI: Ali Nawaz, the tenth person booked by the police for his alleged involvement in the Shershah scrap market shooting, was acquitted by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah on Tuesday.

The Administrative Judge of the anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) decided his plea for acquittal as the identification test failed.

This acquittal comes only a day after Muhammad Nafees, the complainant of the Shershah scrap market carnage case, in application to the ATC Administrative Judge expressed no confidence in the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) and appealed to the judge to transfer investigations of the case to the CID police. The judge had put the special public prosecutor on notice for February 12 to decide the transfer application.

On Tuesday, the counsel for the accused moved an application before the Administrative Judge, maintaining that like the nine other accused were released due to lack of evidence, his client should also be acquitted as none of the witnesses identified him as one of the assailants during the identification parade held inside the Central Prison, Karachi, a few days ago. The two witnesses had only identified Shafi Muhammad and Aslam Pervez.

Earlier, nine men, Muhammad Tufail, Abid Ali, Asghar Ali, Tahseen, Abdul Rasheed, Johar, Muhammad Aijaz, Muhammad Iqbal and Muhammad Akbar were acquitted by the Administrative Judge on January 26 as the complainant failed to identify them.

Meanwhile, three others, Hameed alias Mulla Raju, Noor Muhammad alias Baba Ladla and Rashid are still absconding.

Shershah scrap market case: Witnesses identify two accused men

Tribune
A and S identified Aslam Pervez and Shafi Muhammad as the perpetrators but they failed to identify the third accused in the case, Nawaz Ali Magsi.

KARACHI: Two witnesses of the Shershah scrap market shooting identified two of the accused men before the judicial magistrate in an identification parade held inside Central Prison on Friday.

A and S identified Aslam Pervez and Shafi Muhammad as the perpetrators but they failed to identify the third accused in the case, Nawaz Ali Magsi.

The identification was held after the administrative judge of the Anti-Terrorism Court for Karachi Division, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, allowed a request by the prosecution to identify the accused. The move came after the administrative judge ordered the release of nine accused men as the complainant failed to identify them when they were produced for a second physical remand.

In a bid to save the case, the prosecution moved an application stating that seven more witnesses had come forward and so an identification parade was necessary.

On October 19, 2010, 13 workers and owners of shops in the Shershah scrap market were killed when gunmen on motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire. Six shopkeepers were injured.

An FIR was registered on October 20, 2010 on the basis of a written statement from Nafees. The Gulbahar police first arrested Lal Muhammad Magsi and later nominated Aslam Pervez, Shafi Muhammad and Nawaz Magsi. The current men accused in the case voluntarily surrendered on January 11. Meanwhile, Hameed alias Mulla Raju, Noor Muhammad alias Baba Ladla and Rashid are still absconding.

Shershah scrap market carnage: As no one comes forward to testify, 9 men walk free

Tribune

KARACHI: Nine suspects, who had allegedly confessed to being involved in the Shershah market carnage, were acquitted on Wednesday because of a lack of evidence and witness testimony.

Justice Sajjad Ali Shah of the Sindh High Court, in his capacity as the administrative judge for the Anti-Terrorism Courts of the Karachi division, ordered their release after even the case’s complainant failed to identify any of them.

He had named Muhammad Tufail, Abid Ali, Asghar Ali, Tahseen, Abdul Rasheed, Johar, M Aijaz, M Iqbal and Muhammad Akbar in the case.

Thirteen workers and owners of shops in the Shershah scrap market were killed on October 19, 2010, when unidentified men on motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire in the market. Six shopkeepers, Kashif, Arsalaan, Rashid, Zeeshan, Arif and Imran, were injured.

On Wednesday, the accused men were produced before the judge by the investigation officer, who wanted more time to question them, arguing that they were not cooperating and had not confessed any connection to the crime.

The man who registered the case, Muhammad Nafees, was in court because of orders passed on January 19.

At the last hearing, the court had ordered for a joint interrogation team to submit a report. It was presented to the judge on Wednesday. When the judge asked Muhammad Nafees to identify the accused men present in custody, he said he had never seen them before and they were complete strangers.

Rao M Sharif, counsel for the complainant assisting the Special Public Prosecutor, said the complainant was not identifying the men because he was scared. If their remand were extended, we may discover something more, he added.

The bench declined the request, however, and ordered the release of all the men accused in the case.

Neither was any material connecting the accused to commission of the said crime placed on the record nor was an identification parade carried out and since all the accused were named with parentage, therefore the attendance of the complainant was directed.

The IO stated that despite all efforts by him none of the  witnesses was ready to identify any of the accused.

The halfhearted request for the extension of remand by the IO was without any purpose, the AJ said in his detailed order.

He then directed the police to release the accused men under section 497 (2) of the CrPC after they furnish personal bonds before the IO.

Case history

An FIR was registered on October 20, on the basis of a written statement by complainant, Muhammad Nafees.

The Gulbahar police first arrested Lal Muhammad Magsi and later nominated Aslam Pervez, Shafi Muhammad and Nawaz.

The nine accused men acquitted on Wednesday had voluntarily surrendered before the Special Investigation Unit earlier this month while three others, Hameed alias Mulla Raju, Noor Muhammad alias Baba Ladla and Rashid, are still absconding.

Talking to the media on Wednesday, one of the acquitted men said that they are all poor workers in the graveyard adjacent to the place of the attack (Mewashah graveyard). We are not part of the alleged Lyari gang, he added.

Special Public Prosecutor Arshad Cheema said that the accused have been exonerated for want of evidence but they can face a trial if any investigator manages to find evidence against them. He said that the state should have been the complainant in this case rather than an individual person.

To another question on whether an order was passed against the complainant for lodging a false FIR, Cheema said that if at any stage it was proved that the FIR was false, prosecution under Section 173 of the CrPC would be initiated against the complainant.

Rallying from Lyari: Aman committee protests against Nabeel Gabol

Tribune

KARACHI: Hundreds of Peoples Aman Committee (PAC) members rode on donkey carts from Lyari to the press club in a rally against MNA Nabeel Gabol on Saturday.

Gabol recently retracted his resignation. He had resigned saying that his demands had not been met for his constituency and an operation was conducted without his knowledge.

The rally reached the press club, shops, banks and offices began pulling down their shutters in fear of the large crowd. Cruising the streets on buses and trucks and holding banners, placards, and pictures of Rehman Baloch as well as an effigy of Nabeel Gabol, they repeatedly shouted: “Defence ka bablu nahin chahiye” [We don’t want a wimp from Defence].

The PAC’s Shahid Rehman said: “Nearly 86,000 residents of Lyari elected Gabol in 2008 but all they got in return were gang wars, target killings, bodies and fake police encounters.”

Rehman condemned Lyari ENT specialist Dr Imran Wasi’s murder. He also added that residents of Lyari have no enmity with Urdu-speaking groups and that they had had nothing to do with the attack on the Shershah market.

The people of Lyari will organise a peace rally on Sunday, from Lyari ground to Mardan house. They will then head to the Punjabi Pakhtun Ittihad and Sunni Tehreek offices, before moving to Nine Zero.

Pakistan Peoples Party’s Habib Jan stressed the need to complete work on the Lyari Medical College and hospital.

Police sure ENT specialist was shot by Lyari gangsters he refused to treat a day earlier

Tribune

KARACHI: Dr Imran Wasi, an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist at the Lyari General Hospital was being threatened by ‘gangsters’ a day before he was gunned down at Lea Market, officials revealed on Saturday.

Fifty-five-year-old Dr Wasi was shot dead when he was in his car heading to his clinic in Ranchore Line on Thursday. Two men on a motorcycle attacked him when his car slowed down. He was hit twice, in neck and shoulder.

“He was going to a private clinic after working at the Lyari General,” said a staffer, requesting anonymity. “A day before the incident, some gangsters had come to the hospital and one of them had a bullet injury in his neck. They asked Dr Wasi to treat him but the doctor refused, saying that he would never help ‘people like you’.”

Dr Wasi was an honest man who always preferred helping needy people and therefore, he refused to treat the injured gangster, the staffer said. When he refused, the gangsters warned him that they would kill him. “In my opinion, the same culprits are behind the killing.”

However, the suspects are unlikely to be arrested as there is no one ready to record any statement or appear in court against them, officials claim.

Meanwhile, case investigator Syed Mumtaz Hussain Shah said he has also heard of the scuffle between Dr Wasi and the alleged gangsters. “To proceed with the case, we need recorded statements and no one is cooperating. Everyone fears for their lives,” the officer said. “There is no doubt though that the gangsters are behind the killing as Dr Wasi was also shot in the neck like the injured gangster [symbolising revenge].” Everything in the case is clear but the police are investigating the case from all angles, said SIO Shah.

The police also found the body of the suspected gangster and later identified him as Asim Baloch.

Witnesses have also indicated that the gangsters were behind the killing. “The Peoples Aman Committee (PAC) [practically] run a government in Lyari,” claimed an elderly resident of the area. “Only the PAC or the gangsters can do anything in Lyari, otherwise, no one has the courage to come inside the area. There is zero street crime in Lyari as everyone fears the PAC.”

A shopkeeper, who witnessed the murder, reported that they had shot the doctor three times, but they missed once. “The suspects did not fear the police while they were shooting and escaping. They collected the empty shells from the crime scene before fleeing to the Jumman Shah Plot area,” he recounted. “If you know Lyari, you can easily understand that no criminal or resident can go to the Jumman Shah Plot area. That is the PAC stronghold.”

Interestingly, their motorcycle slipped and they escaped on foot. Dr Wasi’s family, however, do not suspect anyone. “What can we say about who was behind the killing,” said Irfan, Dr Wasi’s twin brother. “He never fought with anyone. So why would someone kill my brother?”

When The Express Tribune contacted the president of the PAC, Shahid Rehman, he said in response to the allegations that there was no such thing. He claimed that the Jumman Shah area borders Usmanabad and the criminals could have gone there.

9 accused of Shershah Market carnage surrender

Geo
KARACHI: Nine accused involved in Sharshah Kabari Market carnage surrendered themselves to police on Tuesday at an undisclosed location in Karachi.

According to details, nine nominated accused, Akber, Johar, Abdul Latif, Tufail, Asghar, Ejaz, Abid, Iqbal and Tehseen, surrendered themselves to police.

A total of 16 accused were nominated in the Shershah carnage case out of them four accused, Lal Magsi, Shafiui, Pervaiz and Nawaz, had already been arrested by the police, while three remaining accused are still at large.

SSP Special Investigation Unit (SIU) Raja Umar Khitab says interrogation from the accused have already been started.

Four 'Lyari Gangster' arrested in connection to Shershah incident

Police arrest four lyari gangster suspects connected to Shersha shooting case.

Tribune

KARACHI: Police in Karachi arrested four men in connection with the massacre which took place at the spare parts market in Shershah, Karachi on October 19, 2010.

Eleven people had been killed on the spot when gunmen had opened indiscriminate fire on the public, while three wounded had later died in the hospital.

The arrested suspects have alleged links to gangs in the Lyari neighbourhood of city, while the main accused, Baba Ladla of the Lyari gang, for whom the government is offering Rs1 million, remains at large.

Earlier the police had arrested 10 suspects from Shershah’s Jahanabad area in the week following the shooting incident.