The former Sindh IG Jahangir Mirza acknowledged the arrest of gangster Rahman Dakait only after his retirement. He said the outlaw’s arrest and subsequent escape was not brought to his knowledge while he was in office.

KARACHI, May 9: People of the southern part of Lyari are looking to the authorities and law-enforcement agencies to bring about an abiding peace in the area which has suffered a gang war between two rival groups for almost four years.

Although the intensity of the gang war has decreased because of various factors, the police have finally disbanded the Lyari Task Force formed in March 2005 with the stated aim of dealing with the criminals firmly.

“The law and order situation in Lyari is now under control and the LTF had almost completed its task to contain the criminal activities and there was no need for its existence,” Adviser to the Chief Minister on Home Affairs Wasim Akhtar told journalists some time back at a luncheon meeting at the Central Police Office.

Sources in the Sindh police said that the Lyari Task Force was established as a reward to DSP Aslam Khan and his team as they had arrested underworld don Shoaib Khan in December 2004, who subsequently died in the Central Prison of Karachi in January 2005. DSP Aslam Khan was also promoted to the rank of superintendent of police.

SP Aslam Khan, commonly known as Chaudhry Aslam, having a backing of the then home minister, was made chief of the LTF and his team, including DSP Irfan Bahadur, launched an operation against gangsters in Lyari. The LTF team killed in various ‘shootouts’ many gangsters, including Sharif Keecho, Rahim alias Kana, brother of ringleader Rehman Dakait, Arif Mama, Usman alias Kekra, Siddique alias Boocha, etc.

The LTF raided the bungalow of Rehman Dakait in Balochistan’s Hub area bordering Karachi on May 18, 2005, which resulted in a gun battle. A police officer, a civilian, and two suspected members of the Rehman Dakait gang were killed in the four-hour shootout between the police and the gangsters. The LTF picked up Rehman Dakait on June 18, 2006 from a posh neighbourhood in Quetta and brought him to Karachi. However, the police never admitted the arrest officially and the outlaw escaped from captivity after two months and four days.

The trouble started for the LTF chief and his associates following the killing of a man in mistaken identity in July 2006. The LTF had a tip-off that it was Mashooq Brohi, allegedly involved in numerous cases of kidnapping for ransom. The ‘shootout’ took place in the outskirts of Gadap and the man was later identified as Rasool Bux. A case was registered against the LTF chief and those who had taken part in the shooting.

After the case was registered, the then inspector-general of Sindh, Jehangir Mirza, disbanded the LTF. However, the LTF chief, with the backing of the then home minister, got the orders for dissolution of the LTF reversed. The IG took back his order the next day and restored the LTF. The former IG, who is retired now, later admitted that Rehman Dakait had been in police custody and that there was considerable political pressure on his administration.

The sources said that it was the turning point and the LTF, despite having picked up Rehman Dakait, invited the wrath of the superiors. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court had also taken suo motu notice and ordered the registration of a case against the officials responsible.

Sensing their imminent arrest in the ‘encounter case’, the LTF members asked an intelligence agency to take back the custody of Rehman Dakait as the police had not declared his arrest officially. However, the intelligence agency declined the request, and SP Aslam Khan, DSP Irfan Bahadur and other officials, who had taken part in the ‘shootout’, were arrested.

The police raided the LTF office situated in the Garden police headquarters, ransacked it and allegedly took away some record files. The custody of Rehman Dakait was given to inspector Baharuddin Babar, and the Dakait slipped from his custody on August 22, 2006. The wrangling within the police ranks over the declaration of the arrest of Rehman Dakait and mishandling of the matter caused his escape and the price of it was being paid by residents of Lyari, the sources added.

Following the arrest of top officials of the LTF, it continued to work and killed some criminals in shootouts but it could not produce the desired results. The gang war between the heads of the two gangs – Rehman Dakait and Arshad Pappu –- continued in the area making the life of residents miserable. However, the Central Investigation Department with the help of an intelligence agency arrested Arshad Pappu in October 2006 in a raid at his Lyari hideout.

Finally, acting inspector-general of Sindh Niaz Siddiqui on April 19 disbanded the LTF. “Since the purpose of its formation had largely been achieved, there was no justification for its existence,” Mr Siddiqui had said.

The staff of the LTF, comprising more than 40 officials, was placed at the disposal of the Lyari Town police.

Residents of Lyari were not happy with the police performance but they did appreciate the efforts of former TPO of Lyari Omar Shahid, SP Aslam Khan and his team. They said that the criminal activities and gang war had halted during their tenure. The residents held the police responsible for fuelling the gang war in the area. They alleged that the police and gangsters were hand in glove and the sufferers were only the innocent residents.

They said that the future of their children was at stake as they had seen the gang war in their childhood which might adversely affect their psychology. A ray of hope existed while the TPO of Lyari and SP Aslam Khan with his team were working.

“We need officers like Omar and Aslam who can restore the writ of the law in the streets and lanes of Lyari. We are fed up with the gang war and our children want to go to school and get education,” said Abdul Sattar Baloch, a resident of the affected area.Police sources said that many criminals and innocent citizens had been killed in the Lyari gang war since 2002. Since Arshad Pappu was arrested and his arch rival Rehman Dakait went into hiding, the gang war had lost some intensity. However, some splinter groups of both the gangs wanted to take advantage of the absence of the two warlords and they showed off their strength by overpowering other smaller groups. One such gangster, Shoaib alias Doctor, attempted to take over the area and created trouble for the law-enforcement agencies recently. The area still needed a strong surveillance and police attention to wipe out the criminals, they added.

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