HYDERABAD: A police inquiry committee has concluded that failure of police and civil administration to engage with protesters at an earlier stage on May 20 in Moro is a major cause of escalation of violence, which finally ended up in the agitators’ torching Sindh home minister’s house.

Sources in police said that the May 20 tragedy, which also resulted in the death of two protesters, could have been prevented. The committee had completed its findings but had not yet submitted its report to IGP Sindh for inexplicable reasons, said the sources.

“The team attributed the incident to failed intelligence mechanism of Naushahro Feroze police, who failed to pre-empt the incident of arson and violence,” said a police source.

The source said the team was not satisfied with the performance of District Intelligence Bureau (DIB) as it was evident the bureau clearly lacked knowledge of how to collect information and gather intelligence. Its work was largely based on conventional report writing, said the source.

Naushahro Feroze police were unable to prevent the protesters from staging sit-in on the National Highway as police deployment was missing on important locations that might have otherwise helped the district police in preventing the crowd from gathering there, he said.

The district police’s performance was also marred by confusion and lack of coordination with the result that when the protesters appeared the policemen were taken aback, he said.

The team found out that burning of home minister’s house showed that the protest venue was around two kilometres from the minister’s house yet the attack came as an spontaneous reaction, suggesting it was also politically motivated under a conspiracy aimed a “destabilizing Sindh government”.

The police team identified different communities and elements, who became part of the attack and took it as opportunity to settle score with the minister in the wake of recent arrest of Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi, said the source.

The police officials established that security at the minister’s house was insufficient, too, and a wall of the house was found broken, said the source.

They recommended that district’s counterterrorism department (CTD) remained weak while influence of banned outfits like JSMM was increasing nonetheless in some specific pockets of the district. Officials were said to have commented on JSMM strongly and noted that deceased Irfan Leghari had received funds via online applications, said the source.

The CTD’s capacity was in need of improvement as the district was now part of Shaheed Benazirabad division that covered Sanghar and Benazirabad districts. Besides, the DIB’s working needed massive overhaul, including cyber training to officials, said the source.

The inquiry team proposed that a high level investigation team composed of officers with required expertise be formed to trace and dismantle financial and operational systems that sustained banned outfits and abetted acts of terrorism.

The team headed by DIG Irfan Ali Baloch was formed after May 20 incident in which two protesters were killed. Zahid Leghari died instantly and Irfan Leghari breathed his last Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad, on May 23.

IGP Sindh Ghulam Nabi Memon had formed the inquiry team in the last week of May to ascertain the circumstances leading up to the May 20 incident. The team, IGP had told Dawn, was to evaluate police’s response “to the situation, fix responsibility and recommend remedial measures to prevent such untoward incident in future”.

Police had taken away Irfan’s body from LUH and kept it with them in Moro for 48 hours. Police later buried the body in a graveyard away from ancestral graveyard of the deceased in Bijarani Leghari village.

The body was later exhumed under a court order and buried as per heirs’ consent. The May 20 protest was organised against corporate farming and proposed six canals on Indus River.

Plea for FIR against police officials

An application was filed in court seeking registration of FIR against Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, (then) Naushahro Feroze SSP Sanghar Malik, DIB In-charge Shahid Ali Dahraj, CIA official Shahid Zardari, Moro DSP Mohsin Jandan and several other policemen in the wake of killings of Zahid Leghari and Irfan Leghari and injuries to Dilbar and Mohsin, according to the applicant’s counsel, Mir Mangrio from Jamshoro.

The plea was fixed for hearing on Aug 4. The applicant had also sought post mortem reports of the deceased, said the counsel.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2025