KARACHI Six armed men got four of their accomplices freed from police custody after they attacked the security personnel with hand grenades in the City Courts on Saturday. A police constable and an under-trial prisoner lost their lives in the exchange of fire.
The four freed men were being tried, among other cases, for the suicide attack on an Ashura procession in December last year that killed more than 40 people.
The 10-minute episode, which saw a shootout between police and the fleeing terrorists, left people in and around the courts in a daze. Shopkeepers in the city's busiest commercial area downed shutters as the daring attempt set off a wave of panic.
The attack took place at 3.15pm when the four suspects -- Shah Murad, Murtaza Inayat, Mohammad Wazeer and Shakeeb Farooqi -- were being escorted by police to the ground floor after a hearing.
As the suspects were taking rest, two policemen guarding them, four men emerged, threw a hand grenade and opened fire, killing Mohammad Shahbaz, a constable.
The attackers fled along with the four suspects. According to Iqbal Mahmood, the DIG South, they belonged to the Jundullah group.
Advocate Riaz Afandi, an eyewitness, said he saw the armed men, in shalwar-kameez, running away with the suspects.
“Three hand grenades were thrown in separate places of the court which suggested that the attackers were not concentrated in one place. They were believed to be all around the building and kept shooting for a few minutes,” he added.
Investigators believed that the attackers and the suspects escaped separately on different directions using different mode of transportation.
“One of the fleeing suspects, Shah Murad, was killed by our chasing party in Jodia Bazaar,” DIG Mahmood said.
But an official, who examined the body of Murad, said he died after the hand-grenade he was carrying went off. “We don't know whether it's a suicide attempt or the pin of the grenade went off unintentionally when he was exchanging fire with policemen,” he added.
His findings matched the initial report of medico legal officials at the Civil Hospital. It said the lower torso of Murad was blown away with the force of explosion.
“We also received three injured -- Abdul Kalam, Sarfaraz Hussain and Usman -- who were hit by bullets. Two of them are stable, but Hussain is in critical condition because he suffered a bullet wound in his head,” a medico legal officer said. The four suspects, all in their mid and late 20s, were arrested in January by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) on Hawkesbay Road in Mauripur, allegedly after a shootout. They were facing 11 cases, including three consecutive bomb blasts on the 8th, 9th and 10th of Muharram.
“The suspects are in fact third tier of Jundullah,” said SIU SP Raja Umar Khattab, who was appointed head of a police team tasked to arrest the attackers and the suspects. He said the terrorist group was involved in attacks on policemen and bank robberies.
The SP said two of the suspects snatched a motorcycle after leaving the City Courts premises. The bike was recovered in Risala area.
“The owner of the motorcycle told us that two injured armed men snatched the bike on gunpoint. This suggests that at least two attackers were injured during the encounter with police, SP Khattab said, adding that initial findings suggested that four to six armed men were involved in the attack.
The lawyers' community condemned the attack and criticised the police high-ups for their failure in providing required security at the City Courts building.
The Karachi Bar Association announced an indefinite strike from Monday.
City police chief Waseem Ahmed said that there were no surveillance cameras in City Courts and several entrances to the premises were kept open despite concerns raised several times.
“These arrangements should be made by the court administration and the institutions concerned. We are already short of strength and the number of personnel deployed at the court is within available resources,” he added.
He said there was also a question mark on the information provided by the jail authorities about the four suspects before they were handed over to police for producing them before the respective court.
“For such dangerous suspects, we make special security arrangements under the guidance of the jail authorities. In this case, such information has not been passed on.”
The city police chief said that a committee, headed by the DIG south, had been set up to look into the matter.
Govt blamed for unenforced security plan
The attack on the City Courts by men carrying hand grenades and sophisticated weapons on Saturday, who ran away with their undertrial aides facing trial in the Ashura blast and other high-profile cases, put a question mark over the security arrangements on the sensitive premises decided in February under the directives of the Sindh High Court chief justice.
A senior police official confirmed that a series of meetings more than four months ago led to a comprehensive security plan for the City Courts building — a place regularly visited by many persons
wanted in different cases — after the courts administration and the legal fraternity raised serious concerns over the existing arrangements.
“The proposal was forwarded to the police authorities through the DIG-South and the SSP-Security at that time,” said the official citing several measures suggested. “Though several steps were incorporated in the final proposal, the basic point of the whole exercise was restricted and monitored entry into the courts premises coupled with an increased number of policemen and reconstruction of the boundary walls surrounding the City Courts, which are so low that anyone can jump over.”
However, he showed ignorance about any action on the proposal, which might have prevented the deadly attack by the armed persons, who did not go through any security checks while entering the courts with loads of weapons and grenades.
The meetings were also recalled by Karachi Bar Association president Mahmood-ul-Hasan, who blamed police authorities and the home minister for the incident by “ignoring security of the key areas and enjoying more than justifiable protocol personally”.
“After a meeting under the Sindh High Court chief justice, several sittings were held under the chairmanship of the district and sessions judge (west) in February 2010,” he said. “It was decided that gate No 2 would be reserved only for staff vehicles and those with stickers issued by the authorities. The height of the boundary wall around the courts would also be increased as it is currently so low that anyone can jump over.”
Both the KBA leader and senior police official cited that a pedestrian thoroughfare was also decided to be built and a number of female police officials would be deployed at each entrance while hand scanners would be given to guards to check every single entrant to the courts.
“The arrangements were to be made both by the Sindh government and the police authorities,” said Mr Hasan of the KBA. “But we don't know the current status of that plan. The level of security we have here now, no one should have any doubt that people determined to do any terrorism activity can do it without any resistance.”
The latest violent episode came as a grim reminder of the last year's incidents in which nearly a dozen undertrial prisoners (UTPs), including those facing murder charges, escaped from the city courts on their own. The last one was reported only in April 2010 when a UTP facing robbery charges slipped away from the City Courts premises without facing any resistance from the policemen posted there.
The city police chief agreed that the level of security for the UTPs remained below the required level, adding that the law-enforcers planned and moved under the given resources.
“But let me assure you that if we find anyone guilty of negligence, he would face action. We need to look into the incident's details before reaching any final conclusion about the security arrangements,” said Capital City Police Officer Waseem Ahmed.
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