The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, on Thursday took suo motu notice into a blatant act of extra-judicial killing by the police and issued notice to the Sindh Inspector General Police, directing him to appear in person and submit report on July 18.
The Chief Justice also issued notice to the Advocate General Sindh, directing him to appear on July 18. He noted that Articles 9, 10 and 14 of the Constitution were violated in the killing and treated the news item as petition under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took notice on a news report which said that in a blatant act of extra-judicial killing, the police gunned down a suspected robber in a broad daylight near the DJ Government Science College, Karachi, on last Tuesday, eyewitnesses said.
According to news, the witnesses at the spot maintained that a police van was carrying the suspect. When it stopped, police officials dragged him out of the van, and fired shots into the air.
All people around the spot and those waiting for public transport some 400-500 yards away were alerted by the sound of firing and they looked towards the scene.
They narrated that a police van stopped near the DJ College roundabout and policemen dragged the suspect out of the van. One of the police officials loaded his rifle and fired shots into the air.
Later, the other police official shot the suspect in his thighs and chest. They put the suspect into the van and drove away. A girl student, waiting for a bus, said: It all happened very quickly, and she was in shock for a few minutes. Trembling with fear, she said: Witnessing the killing of a human is horrible.
Another witness, who requested not be named, narrated an identical story, saying a man, carried by the mobile van, was shot dead in front of him callously.
However, the police disputed the witnesses' claim and asserted that two suspects on a motorcycle were signalled to stop on I.I. Chundrigar Road, instead they sped away. The police chased them. As they reached the DJ Science College roundabout, they opened fire at the police. The police returned fire and one of the suspects suffered bullet wounds. Their motorcycle also skidded and one of the suspects ran away leaving behind his injured accomplice and the motorbike.
According to news, Arambagh SHO Jahanzeb, said: "We shifted the injured suspect to the Civil Hospital, where he died. The suspect was identified as Mazhar Iqbal. We recovered the motorbike and a pistol. We also found a paper slip in the pocket of the dead in which the names of many police stations were written."
He said the mentioned police stations were contacted and it was discovered that more than 12 cases were registered against the suspect for his involvement in robberies, attacking the police, murders, and other heinous crimes.
Saddar Town SSP Sanaullah Abbasi said the suspect killed in the encounter had a criminal record, however, he said he had nominated the ASP of Kharadar as inquiry officer to probe the incident as he usually constitutes inquiry into every police encounter as per police rules.