SUKKUR: A joint force of Sindh and Balochistan police riding armoured personnel carriers (APC) stormed its way into the Jagir area of Jacobabad on Thursday and torched a number of suspicious structures allegedly being used as hideouts of dacoits’ gangs.
Frontier Constabulary personnel also took part in the action, according to sources.
Contesting the police claim, the families rendered homeless in the action held protest against the force saying that the structures were their homes and not dacoits’ hideouts.
The police force said “some women relatives of the criminals involved in the killing of six policemen on Wednesday in the Jagir area were detained” in the action.
They said seven suspected criminals or their harbourers were also arrested, adding that some arms found during a house-to-house search in various villages were seized.
Joint force of Sindh, Balochistan police and FC storms its way into riverine area of Jacobabad
The Jagir operation was launched a day after provincial police chiefs of Sindh and Balochistan held a meeting at the Central Police Office (CPO) in Karachi and decided to take immediate and stern action against the gangs involved in the killing of six personnel of the Balochistan police. The martyred policemen had entered the Jagir area to rescue Furqan Soomro and some other hostages reportedly held by ‘Jakhrani gang’.
Reports from the area suggested that a convoy of several APCs carrying a strong contingent of the joint force, led by Jacobabad SSP Dr Sumair Noor Channa and the SSP of Osta Mohmmad, drove into the Jagir area and started bulldozing and torching structures in various villages. It was claimed that the action was taken on intelligence reports about the structures being used by dacoits as their hideouts.
The entire Jagir area – located within the riverine area of Jacobabad district – had been condoned off to ensure that no criminal could make his escape good, the police said, adding that a number of temporary check posts had also been set up in the area.
SSP Channa said that the ongoing action would not be stopped until killers of the six policemen were arrested. He said the joint force was also trying to recover hostages, including Furqan Soomro.
The protesters, whose homes were torched by police, told local reporters that they had nothing to do with any gangsters or criminals. They claimed that besides torching their homes and grain stocks, the police also took away their animals.
‘Honour killing’
A man, Ali Sher Mugheri, allegedly shot dead his 45-year-old wife, Sakeena, in their home after killing a 50-year-old man, Ghulam Hussain Mugeri, at Landi point within the limits of the Mauladad police station of Jacobabad district on Friday.
The police said the suspect fled the area after committing the crime.
They said Ali Sher killed them on suspicion of an extramarital relationship between them.
The bodies were taken to the Jacobabad Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination before they were handed over to the heirs.
Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2023