KARACHI: Police on Saturday registered an FIR against the Bahria Town Karachi (BTK) security administration on charges of rioting, kidnapping and injuring villagers on the complaint of a village resident, official sources and rights activists said.

This decision was taken apparently after the late Friday night intervention by the top PPP leadership and the chief minister of Sindh.

On Friday, the BTK guards accompanied by police, both in civilian dress and uniforms, tried to destroy agricultural crops in Jam Kamal Khan Goth near Kathore to pave the way for new projects of the BTK. The move was resisted by the villagers. The guards resorted to firing, wounding three persons and also allegedly kidnapping the wounded persons and others who were later on rescued by the villagers and shifted to a hospital.

Hafeez Baloch, an activist of the Indigenous Rights Alliance, told Dawn that the villagers had lodged an FIR against the Bahria Town security administration.

According to the contents of the FIR, the BTK guards tried to bulldoze the lands on Friday afternoon. When the villagers put up resistance, the guards opened fire on them. The complainant, Mujahid Jokhio, alleged that the guards tied villagers with ropes attached to their vehicles and drove them away.

The case has been registered against BTK security officials Mohammed Amir, Zahid, Abid and others under sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 365 (kidnapping or abduction in order to murder), 337-A (punishment for Shajjah: causing hurt) and other relevant sections of the law.

Meanwhile, official sources said that a meeting presided over by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and attended by representatives of Malir, decided to remove the Gadap SHO, revenue officials and to take action against the BTK security guards who took the law into their own hands and both police and local administration officials for helping them.

An official familiar with this development told Dawn that the meeting deliberated on restricting the BTK to its original limits fixed by the Supreme Court.

CM removes officials, orders inquiry

CM Shah ordered the removal of Gadap officers and ordered an inquiry into the incident after PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari took notice of it.

Provincial minister Syed Nasir Husain Shah in a statement said that the provincial chief executive had removed the Gadap assistant commissioner and mukhtiarkar. Mr Shah also ordered the removal of the Gadap SHO for his failure to maintain law and order. The CM also ordered an inquiry into the incident. He vowed that the rights of local people would be protected.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2021