LARKANA: An inquiry into what the Larkana police claimed to be an ‘encounter’ was ordered after heirs of the man killed by police held a demonstration at SSP Chowk here on Monday.

A spokesman for the Larkana SSP had earlier in the day said in a statement that a team belonging to the Bakrani police station engaged a “dacoit”, Khalid Abro, in an encounter within their area of operation. Abro was shot dead during the encounter and his two associates were arrested afterwards, he said, adding that a weapon was also seized from Abro’s possession.

The spokesman said that certain criminal cases had been registered against Abro at various police stations of the district.

The police version drew a swift and sharp reaction from the bereaved family. Abro’s wife, Moomal, and brother, Imtiaz, along with a number of their relatives proceeded to SSP Chowk raising slogans against what they alleged to be “extrajudicial killing” of Khalid Abro. They held a demonstration calling for a fair inquiry into the whole episode and action against the police team involved in the “murder”.

According to the berea­ved family, a team from the Bakrani police station carried out raids on their hou­ses in a search for Khalid Abro and arrested him along with Mir Hassan Abro and Murtaza Abro “at the behest of their opponents in a dispute”.

They claimed that the police team killed Khalid in custody and gave it a colour of encounter in their version.

They appealed to the inspector general of Sindh police, Larkana SSP and other authorities to take notice of the extrajudicial killing and ensure a fair investigation into the whole episode.

In the evening, SSP Tanveer Hussain Tunio instituted an inquiry and “closed” Bakrani SHO Noor Jakhro to the Police Line to facilitate the investigation. Explaining the term “close”, the SSP said that the SHO was not suspended, rather, his professional activities were restricted to the Police Line so that he did not influence the probe or interfere in the process.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2018