LARKANA: A week-long protest over the Dec 13 incident, in which two policemen and a suspect were killed in an alleged encounter, turned violent on Monday when relatives of the deceased persons clashed with police on VIP Road in the city.

The alleged encounter had taken place, according to the Larkana DIG, in Wada Mahar village on the outskirts of the city when the martyred policemen, ASI Muzaffar Khoso and constable Nawab Jatoi, intervened to stop two muggers from snatching a motorcycle from its rider. SSP Imran Qureshi, after the incident, had quoted SHO of the Akil police station Talib Junejo as identifying the suspects as Qadeer Mahar and Raju Mahar. According to the SHO, the encounter left the ASI and constable, as well as suspect Raju Mahar, dead. The other suspect, Qadeer Mahar, was wounded but managed to escape, he said.

Since after the incident, relatives of the deceased policemen have been holding protest demonstration over failure of the area police to arrest the “actual killers” alleging that the ASI and constable were killed by their colleagues and a fake encounter report was registered at the Akil police station.

Police accused of killing the colleagues to make it look like an encounter, say heirs

After failing to get their grievances heard at the higher level of police department, they on Monday along with other residents of the village marched up to the SSP Chowk to hold a noisy demonstration.

Bashir Khoso, Haji Murad Jatoi and other relatives of the deceased policemen said although they laid down their lives in the line of duty, facts must come to light through a fair inquiry into what had actually happened that day. “We are looking for justice,” they said while other protesters continued to raise slogans against police. They pointed out that only three days back, the SHO had assured them [the heirs] that culprits would be arrested but no one had been touched till date. “The DIG and SSP are also keeping us on false hopes,” they added.

Separately, relatives of the deceased suspect, Raju Mahar, also held a demonstration on VIP Road to demand an investigation into his death.

Led by Ishaq Mahar, Yameen Mahar, Gulab Mahar and others, they accused the Akil police of killing Mahar in the fake encounter. They placed burning tyres and junk to block the road and disrupt vehicular traffic.

The Akil police tried to persuade them to disperse peacefully, but in vain. In order to clear the road, the police applied baton charge causing chaos and a clash.

The protesters then converged on the Sukarno Memorial Tower and blocked roads with tractor-driven trolleys. SHOs of six police stations along with a strong contingent used force to disperse them. The tractors, trolleys and a number of motorcycles of the protesters were impounded and taken to various police stations.

The deceased suspect’s heirs claimed that the Akil police killed Raju Mahar and then ASI Khoso and constable Jatoi to give it a colour of encounter.

“We were holding our protest peacefully by police unnecessarily used force against us,” they said. They also claimed that a number of protesters were rounded up during the police action.

They demanded release of all protesters and vehicles. “We will continue the protest till the suspended SHO, Talib Hussain Junejo, is booked for the murder of Raju Mahar,” they said.

It is pertinent to mention here that the bodies of the two policemen had remained unattended for about five hours after the incident while police could not find the body of suspect Raju Mahar at the crime scene when they were collecting the bodies of their two colleagues. The wounded suspect has also remained unaccounted for.

Police had carried out an extensive search in the village and nearby areas but without any progress.

A post-mortem examination of the policemen’s bodies was performed at the Chandka Medical College Hospital.

A statement issued from the SSP’s office hours after the “encounter” had claimed that the killed suspect [Raju Mahar] was wanted by police in 12 cases of heinous nature registered against him at the Market, Akil, Mahota, Dari, Waleed and Jam Datar police stations of Larkana and Shaheed Benazirabad districts.

Larkana DIG Mazhar Nawaz Shaikh had, on Dec 14, suspended three SHOs and ordered an inquiry into the “encounter”. The SHOs, Talib Hussain Junejo, Mohammad Urs Noonari and Ali Hassan Mugheri, were shifted to police lines. A four-member fact-finding team was also constituted.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2021