KARACHI: Police raid turns nasty: Many innocents held
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, Nov 15: Police raided a shopping centre late on Thursday in Saddar — situated in the Akra Centre — beat up the people there, snatched thousands of rupees from them and put 134 people behind bars for their alleged involvement in gambling.
Some of the people who were beaten up and also arrested actually weren’t involved in gambling. They were inside the shopping centre to buy goods being sold there, and not to gamble.
Later, the already shifty episode turned nastier, when the officer in charge of the raiding party, ASP Ali Mohsin, misbehaved with the Nazim of Saddar Town, Farooq Faria, who had reached the Artillery Maidan police station to inquire into the matter, according to some sources.
Later still, a number of people protested outside the Artillery Maidan police station against the police’s high-handedness.
When the chief of city police — Asad Ashraf Malik, who took charge of his position recently — was contacted by Dawn he said he didn’t know much about the episode. He stated: “I just know that the ASP misbehaved with the Saddar Town Nazim, who is the elected representative.
“I have ordered an inquiry into the matter and the DIG Operations, Tariq Jamil, will submit a report on Saturday.”
Asad Malik also stated that the matter actually fell under the jurisdiction of Saddar’s Town Police Officer (TPO), to whom ASP Ali Mohsin reported. The TPO Saddar had perhaps directed ASP Mohsin to raid Akra Centre, he said.
When the city police chief was told that almost all the places — in Kharadar and Mithadar etc where operations involving “Parchi system” were regularly run — fell under the limits of Saddar Town, he repeated his ignorance about the affair.
Some police sources, meanwhile, said that ASP Ali Mohsin — along with SHO Nabi Bux Zahid Hussain, SHO Irfan Cobra, and other police officials — had raided the Akra Centre in Saddar without intimating the area police.
The raiding party then blocked the entrance and exit of the centre where some people were busy in running the racket of “Parchi system” involving prize bonds. The centre, besides having the gambling centre houses shops where shoes and cold drinks etc are sold.
All the people inside the market were trapped when the police had shut all the doors. According to the sources, the police mercilessly beat the people up, snatched thousands of rupees from them and took 134 people to Artillery Maidan police station.
Farooq Faria told Dawn that he was informed of the episode by a woman, over the telephone. The woman told him that two of her sons, who were shopping inside the centre at the time, had been picked up by the police and, without any reason, lodged at Artillery Maidan police station.
“I contacted Artillery Maidan police station, where I was told that it was the raid conducted by ASP Ali Mohsin. I contacted Ali Mohsin, who switched his mobile phone off, and did not speak to me.”
FAROOQ FARIA SAID: “I personally reached the Artillery Maidan police station where Ali Mohsin abused me, misbehaved (with) me and told me to get out of the police station.” He added that he had brought the matter to the notice of high ranking police officials, besides the City Nazim.
The police sources alleged that the raiding party had grabbed Rs1 million from the shopkeepers but had shown a recovery of only Rs300,000. They added that Saddar’s TPO had ordered his subordinates to register the case at the Preedy police station and the complainant should be SHO Preedy, who was not there at the time of raid.
In the FIR, meanwhile, there’s no mention of ASP Ali Mohsin and his raiding party. The sources claimed that FIR number 183/2002 was registered at the Preedy police station against 134 people for their alleged involvement in gambling under section 485-F of the gambling ordinance 1995, which incidentally, had lapsed.
