KARACHI - A militant recently booked by Counter-Terrorism Department for his alleged involvement in Safoora bus attack has offered himself to the law enforcement agencies as an approver in an attack on a police mobile van in Karachi’s District South last year.
Asad-ur-Rehman, allegedly involved in the brutal Safoora attack that left at least 45 people of the Ismaili community dead in Karachi on May 13, offered the investigators of becoming an approver but not in the case of Safoora attack.
Police sources confirmed Rehman has not offered to become an approver in a Safoora bus attack but in another case of the deadly attack on the police mobile of the Preedy police station.
At least two policemen including head constable Shamsur Rehman and constable Muhammad Mobin died, while policeman Sohail Ejaz was injured when unidentified motorcyclists hurled a hand grenade and an inflammable chemical at their mobile van while they were patrolling MA Jinnah Road on November 10.
The chemical sparked a fire that destroyed the vehicle and left all three policemen from the Preedy police station severely injured.
An officer said Rehman had no direct involvement in the mobile attack but he was abetting the assailants. Police sources added the accused has already recorded his confessional statement before a judicial magistrate in which he named the suspects involved in the mobile attack, which would help the authorities run the case in anti-terrorism court.
41 policemen punished: As many as 41 policemen found guilty in cases of corruption and other criminal activities were punished by high ups after departmental inquiry here on Tuesday.
The punishments include dismissal from service, cut in salaries and stoppage of annual increment.
As many as 13 have been dismissed from service, ten demoted to previous ranks, ten were given punishment of reduction in pay and eight were given different major punishments.
Police sources say that action has been taken against cops between grades of 1 to 16 including three former SHOs – Naveed Nasir, Abdul Moeed and Ejaz Rajper. These policemen were posted to various police stations of District West of Karachi and were given punishments by District West police chief SSP Ghulam Azhar Mahesar. “In my district 41 policemen have been punshied,” Mahesar explained.
Mahesar said that there are two lists – one prepared recently by the then DIG Rapid Response Force (RRF) Dr Aftab Pathan and one was prepared around a couple of years ago on the orders of apex court. “Interestingly, majority of the same policemen are in both lists,” he explained. “SSP rank officer can give punishment till inspector rank while I using my powers gave punishments to all of them,” he said. He said that policemen who have been given punishments have right to appeal to superiors.
Earlier a day before Eid, three former SHOs - Ismail Lashari, Ishaq Lashari and Shaikh Shoaib were dismissed from service following their criminal record while nine SHOs - Naveed Nasir, Muhammad Haroon Korai, Mazhar Iqbal Awan, Fasih-uz-Zaman, Azhar Iqbal, Amanullah, Azam Khan, Rana Khushi Muhammad and Abdul Moeed were removed from their posts by the then Karachi police chief Additional IG Karachi Ghulam Qadir Thebo following their involvement in crimes including target killings, robberies, street crimes, extortion, land grabbing and narcotics.
Actions were taken against these officials following an internal inquiry conducted by Sindh police department which has identified more than 50 SHOs involved in cases of crime while nearly 500 police personnel ranking from constable to Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs). The report prepared by the then deputy inspector general (DIG) of the Sindh Police’s Rapid Response Force (RRF), Dr Aftab Ahmed Pathan, declared 55 police station chiefs unfit for post because of their patchy service record. It is pertinent to mention here that a number of law enforcement agencies identified names of police personnel involved in the illegal practices.