KARACHI: Though the investigations into the many cases of killing carried out in the city on sectarian, political and ethnic grounds have yet to make any breakthrough, police investigators have not been able to achieve any significant success even while pursuing the 266 cases of their own colleagues killed during the past three years, as they have detected only 67 of them, it emerged on Thursday.

Data recently compiled by the Sindh IG office suggested that investigations into the killing of policemen had yet to take off with the persistent threat to members of the key law-enforcement agency. A surge in the killing of policemen, mostly in targeted attacks, was first witnessed in 2012 in the recent years when 108 policemen were killed.

“Then, according to the data, in 2013 some 139 policemen were killed,” said a source citing details of the data, which registered killing of 19 policemen in 2014. “Of the 108 killings in 2012, 39 cases were detected and similarly 27 cases out of the 139 policemen killings were detected in 2013. This year only one case has been detected.”

With threats ranging from terrorist attacks to deadly encounters with gangsters, from daily clashes with street criminals to hit men associated with political groups, the Karachi police are passing through the most bloody and challenging phase of their history.

However, the questionable skills of investigators coupled with challenges faced by the Karachi police as an institution have made the desired results hard to achieve. Officials at the helm of affairs said it was not only about the skills that kept the results much below the desired level but there were also other challenges, which were being addressed.

“In terms of methodology of investigations, there is no difference between a probe into any murder case and that of killing of a policeman,” said DIG-South Abdul Khaliq Sheikh, whose recently authored ‘Basic Investigation Handbook’ has been made a part of the police training syllabus.

“Investigation into policemen’s killing is carried out on a priority basis with more commitment and resources. But in case of Karachi policemen killings’ investigations, there are several aspects that needed to be considered before arriving at any conclusion. You may find four different motives and groups involved in most of the policemen’s killings.”

He first referred to a ‘political group’ which executed several jobs but its workers remained ‘untouchables’, which affected the investigations in terms of the total number of detected cases. Secondly, he said, there were banned militant outfits who geared up their activities in the city mainly targeting law-enforcement agencies, and their members escaped to the tribal areas after doing their job.

“Then come organised criminal gangs which off and on target policemen owing to several reasons. The fourth reason is the daily and random encounters which policemen face due to regular patrolling or in a sudden clash with dacoits, bandits or street criminals. Most of the cases regarding policemen’ killings detected belonged to the fourth category.”

DIG Sheikh, whose booklet was part of the Sindh police modern training curricula programme in collaboration with the United States, claimed to have found strong realisation among the authorities to modify the conventional course of investigations and several measures had already been taken on those lines.

“The pace is slow but reform has been initiated, which may take time to get completed. There is a strong realisation within the institution that the detection is a crucial part of the overall policing and you may see several measures in the days to come,” he added.