HOW many ‘encounter’ killings will there be before murderous law-enforcement personnel are brought to book? On Sunday, a Sindh University student, Mohammed Irfan Jatoi, was gunned down in Sukkur in an ostensible encounter with the cops, who described him as a “notorious dacoit” wanted in connection with several crimes. Except, Irfan’s friends and social media activists denounced this version as a pack of lies, claiming he had been taken away from the campus on Feb 10 by the police and remained in their custody until they killed him almost a month later. Following the public furore, IG Sindh Mushtaq Mahar ordered an inquiry. The investigation could bring to an end the impunity with which extrajudicial killings are committed in this country, especially in Sindh and Punjab, or it could turn out to be yet more lip service to the notion of accountability for trigger-happy law-enforcement officials.
KARACHI: Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar on Wednesday ordered an inquiry into the killing of a Sindh University student in an alleged encounter in Sukkur after the incident sparked outrage on social media and opposition parties in the provincial assembly demanded a judicial inquiry.
Mohammed Irfan Jatoi was shot dead in a suspected encounter in Sukkur on Sunday. The police alleged that he was a “notorious dacoit” wanted in connection with several crimes. However, his friends and social media activists rejected the police claim and said that he was taken away by the law enforcers from SU on Feb 10 and they killed him in their custody after almost a month.