KARACHI - An alleged activist of outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was killed on Sunday in an alleged encounter with Rangers on Ijtimagah Road, Manghopir, while police and Rangers claimed to have apprehended 81 criminals from various parts of the city.
According to details, the encounter took place between the Rangers and members of the outlawed TTP at the same place where three suicide bombers were killed in premature blasts when they were moving towards Orangi Town’s Ijtamagah on October 10.
Reportedly, TTP activists opened indiscriminate firing on a convoy of Rangers, but they remained safe. The law enforcers retaliated and killed a TTP man. Later, extra contingent of Rangers reached the site and conducted an operation for the arrest of the criminals. However, most of the culprits escaped under the cover of firing.
Rangers claimed to have apprehended 63 alleged criminals, including Lyari gangsters and criminals affiliated with political groups. According to a Rangers’ spokesperson, the arrests were made during targeted raids in various parts of the metropolis, including Dera Rehmat, Hazara Chowk, Memon Goth, Old Muzaffarabad Colony, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Mehran Town, Memon Society, Singu Lane, Mohallah Wachani Chakiwara, Behar Colony, Frontier Morr, Gulshan-e-Zia, Taiser Town, New Karachi, Mujahid Colony, Nazimabad No 4, Moosa Colony, Hyderi Market, Altaf Nagar, Natha Khan Goth, Drigh Colony, New Sabzi Mandi, Kalakot and Lyari General Hospital areas.
The spokesperson said those arrested were involved in heinous crimes while 162 weapons of different categories like sub machineguns (SMGs), rifles, hand grenades, ammunition and a large quantity of narcotics were recovered from them. Similarly, the Rangers conducted a targeted operation in Metrovile area by sealing the entry and exit points leading to the area and arrested 13 criminals wanted in numerous cases. According to sources, more than 125 weapons of different types, including SMGs, rifles, shotguns and a large quantity of ammunition, were also recovered.
Three alleged target killers were apprehended during a targeted raid in Block 5, Gulshan-e-Iqbal. The raid was conducted on the basis of the information provided by an arrested target killer. The arrested target killers were identified as Salman, Farooq and Babar. A woman, Sonia, was also detained during the raid. One Kalashnikov, two 222 rifles and 9mm pistols were also recovered from them. Those arrested were wanted by New Karachi and Surjani police in various cases and were hiding at the residence of notorious land grabber Asif Lania.
Separately, two political workers, Kashif and Faisal Naseer, were apprehended in the targeted raids conducted by Rangers and police in the Moosa Colony area of Gulberg and Shamsi Society of Malir. The suspects believed to be involved in target killing cases were shifted to some undisclosed location for further questioning.
Meanwhile, the East district police apprehended 21 suspects, including six absconders, and recovered four pistols, a dagger, a truck, a cell phone and drugs from them.
Separately, Lyari remained tense on Sunday following the three-day-long gang war between the two groups of gangsters. It was, however, learnt that both the groups were going for ceasefire by resolving the issues through a jirga.
Over one-and-a-half-dozen people, most of whom were neutral, have so far been killed during the three-day gang war between the members of the notorious gangsters, Baba Ladla, and outlawed People’s Amn Committee chief Uzair Baloch.
Extra contingents of police and Rangers, including commandos of police and Rangers’ Anti-Terrorism Wing, also reached Lyari to conduct a grand operation against the gangsters on the night between Saturday and Sunday.
Rangers Director General Maj-Gen Rizwan Akhtar and Karachi police Chief Shahid Hayat also visited the affected areas and monitored the operation. An overnight meeting was also held at the Rangers Headquarters to review the law and order situation in Lyari. The officials decided at the meeting to continue the operation in the troubled neighborhood till the arrest of all the gangsters.
A gangster, Akhtar alias Akku, was also killed during an alleged encounter with the police and Rangers and around two dozen gangsters were apprehended with huge cache of bombs and weapons. Akku was wanted by police in a number of cases while the Sindh government had announced Rs 0.3 million reward for his arrest.
He was also arrested in the past, but managed to escape during hearing in a court.
Sources in Lyari said a jirga was being held to resolve the issues between the two groups after the elders’ committee urged them to stop the clash. The committee asked them there would a big loss of both the groups if they continued fighting each other, said the sources. “Baba Ladla and Uzair Baloch have almost agreed to a ceasefire, but nothing can be said exactly until the jirga ends with a final decision,” they said.
The overall situation of law and order in Lyari was much better as no major untoward incident related to the gang war between the two groups took place. However, around half a dozen people were wounded when unidentified gangsters attacked police near the Amn Park area of Lyari. The injured were shifted to Civil Hospital for medical treatment. Routine and commercial activities were partially restored, but shops remained close in the affected areas.
Extra contingents of police and Rangers were deployed in the affected areas of Lyari and targeted raids resumed. Lyari SSP Faisal Bashir Memon said the operation would continue against the gangsters until all of them were arrested.