KARACHI: An excavator operator was gunned down by unknown miscreants, who created a law and order situation during an anti-encroachment operation in a Surjani Town area on Tuesday.

Officials claimed that the operation against encroachments was being carried out on the directives of the high court to vacate some industrial plots.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Surjani Town police said: “During an anti-encroachment drive, a machine operator was shot and killed by the firing of an unknown person in Saif ul Murree Goth, Sector 8, Surjani Town.”

The statement provided no further details about the incident.

The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for completing medico-legal formalities.

Police take into custody four suspects

SSP-West Faisal Bashir Memon told Dawn that the Sindh government’s Anti-Encroachment Cell had launched this operation with the help of Rangers and police as per the orders of the Sindh High Court.

He said there were around five or six industrial plots under occupation of certain elements. When the operation was launched, the land grabbers took law into their hands and resorted to firing. As a result, an excavator driver, who was standing near the vehicle, was shot. He suffered a bullet wound in the head and was shifted to a hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

The law enforcers had arrested four suspects, he added.

The SSP shared that the operation continued and more than 90 per cent of the encroachments were demolished.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2023