THATTA, Feb 12: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has said that the murder of five political activists by the Karachi police terming them bandits was an extra-judicial murder and demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter.

In a press release issued here on Sunday, district HRCP coordinator Nazeer Ahmad Jakhro said he had seen the five people, who were blindfolded and their hands tied behind, in a police mobile at the Thatta DPO office a few days before the incident.

He claimed that he had heard people present there whispering that the alleged bandits were being taken to Karachi following refusal of the Thatta police to kill them in a fake encounter.

Mr Jakhro said he was shocked when he came to know through the media that the five people were killed in an ‘encounter’ by police in Gulshan-i-Hadeed, Karachi. He said this was extra-judicial killing and should be discouraged.