Solving murder mysteries

Published May 5, 2015
The writer is a retired police officer.
The writer is a retired police officer.

ENOUGH is enough. With more than 40 years of experience in law enforcement, I refuse to believe that determined and professional state agencies and departments cannot solve the mystery murders happening in Karachi, or elsewhere.

In a matter of a few days, first the courageous Sabeen Mahmud was gunned down then the gentle assistant professor Dr Waheed-ur-Rehman fell victim to the nefarious designs of target killers.

Let us first examine the response at the strategic policymaking levels. The prime minister has expressed his anguish and sought a report from the provincial government. While he was away recently, the interior minister did not bother to rush to Karachi to express the resolve of the federal government to offer the services of institutions like the IB, FIA, Rangers and ISI in order to assist the provincial government in carrying out successful probes.

Unfortunately, the political rulers in Islamabad are mere paper tigers. They only know how to huff and puff, but when it comes to confronting uncomfortable truths they choose expediency over principles. To be fair to the prime minister, he means well but the forces of the status quo and the ‘guardians’ of national interests would simply not let him move forward.

The second key player — but the most impotent one — is the Sindh government. The chief minister wants to constitute a judicial commission to investigate the murder of Ms Mahmud, thus proposing yet another tried and tested, failed method to assuage the sentiments of an outraged civil society. When have judicial commissions ever successfully solved murders? Have we cared to ever ask the Supreme Court about the outcome of the probe by a judicial commission formed after the murderous attack on journalist Hamid Mir? Was one of the most competent judges of the apex court able to solve the mystery of the torture and subsequent murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad?

To ask the judges to become investigators is not only unfair but improper. The executive tries to shift its burden to an institution that is not mandated to carry out investigations. We should stop involving the honourable judges and making them detectives. But with utmost humility and due deference, I expect the chief justice of the Supreme Court — as the most potent guardian of the fundamental rights of the citizens — to rise to the occasion and ask the state institutions some tough questions.


The hackneyed ploy of blaming a ‘foreign hand’ reflects a tendency to shift the blame.


The third major player is the military and its intelligence agencies. The chief of the army staff dashed to Karachi and said that “the pattern of recent killings indicated a design and needed to be checked”, adding that “all mafias would be eliminated”. He directed intelligence agencies and Rangers to trace, apprehend, and expose the perpetrators.

These words are reassuring but actions in the coming days will test his mettle as a true soldier. Mere tweets as expressions of resolve are not enough. This PR ploy may now be replaced with some firm, fair and determined action on the ground. What is the ‘design’ behind these mystery murders? Who will stem the rot and how? Those are the questions.

The hackneyed ploy of blaming a ‘foreign hand’ and machinations of enemy agencies reflects a tendency to shift the blame or an effort to escape accountability by the state institutions. What is the interest of enemy agents to eliminate a social activist who is trying to organise a debate on the missing persons’ issue of Balochistan? Who gains by silencing the voice of the missing persons: that is the question to ask. There is indeed a design and method in this madness. Our state institutions need to get together and foil this design.

The last player in solving the mystery of these dastardly acts is none other than the police. It is their sole responsibility to investigate such cases. All other state agencies and departments can contribute only in supporting roles. In this strange land of ours, everyone tries to tell the police what to do and they act as blind followers of the forces that matter. My blood boils when I see such timid and servile behaviour of our police services.

Every one of us is watching Scotland Yard in their sustained but methodical pursuit of the killers of a Pakistani political figure murdered in London a few years back. They refuse to close the case unless the perpetrators are brought to book. That is the model to follow.

The recent Karachi murders call for investigations based on circumstantial and scientific evidence. Tough questions have to be asked and forensic support sought in these mystery cases. The cellphone data, if fully explored, can lead to useful clues. The FIA, IB and ISI can unravel the mystery. The support of the FBI can also be sought. There is a state of art Interpol cybercrime centre in Singapore. The services of local experts in the Forensic Science Lab in Lahore can also be utilised.

Ballistic experts should analyse the bullet empties and investigators should compare the modus operandi in the recent murder cases. Only well-trained sharpshooters are adept at using .9mm pistols. The nature of threats can also be assessed. The killers and their facilitators do leave their prints in terms of motives, weapons used, and methodology adopted.

Police investigators must be relentless in pursuit of the killers. Although teamwork produces results, the tendency to create joint investigation teams comprising members of different agencies should be avoided as police investigators can get assistance from any agency. However, JIT for interrogation of suspects can produce positive results through collective efforts.

I have no doubt in the capability or capacity of the Karachi police led by the additional IG and DIGs responsible for overseeing these cases. The only question is whether they will ever be given a free hand to carry out investigations. Like too many cooks spoiling the broth, too many commanders in Karachi have made the police force ineffective.

When will our inept political leadership strengthen the police so that it becomes a professional and autonomous force that can come up to public expectations? That is the question!

The writer is a retired police officer.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2015

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