The session court and provincial interior minister have also ordered an inquiry by a police officer not below the rank of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) but the police have still not yet initiated an inquiry which reveals the level of contempt the officers have for the judiciary and government. No arrest has been made and the perpetrators are enjoying impunity and threatening the family members of the victim and also those journalists who are following the case. Besides the police, the other perpetrators are six brothers who divided themselves into different political parties which are in the ruling alliance.
A lawyer, Mr. Muhammad Yousuf Butt, was punished by the police and land grabbers by the killing of his son in a fake police encounter. Mr. Butt was an activist during the lawyer’s movement for the restoration of the Chief Justice, Iftekhar Choudhry, when he was suspended by the then military ruler, General Musharraf. Butt was also injured during the movement when a homemade bomb was exploded in the procession which was proceeding to receive the Chief Justice at Karachi Airport on May 12, 2007, when the CJ was refused permission to visit the Karachi. He was very vocal against the land grabbing of government plots by the police and land grabbers. On many occasion he and his sons were implicated in false cases which later on proved to be false.
On December 28, 2010, at 22.05, when Mr. Butt and his son, Mr. Muhammad Ali Butt, a constable in the reserved police (not regular police force), along with some other persons having a fire outside their house in the chilly night in Manzoor colony, Jamshed quarters town, Karachi, Sindh province, two police vehicles from Firozabad polices station and Baloch colony police station along with two Toyota cars arrived at the scene. Eleven persons, six policemen and five in plain clothes came out and took Muhammad Ali, the son of the lawyer, towards the police vehicles. The Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Faisal Jaffery, who was leading the police party, told the people that he was required at the police station and they also took away his motor bike. ASI Jaffery told his father to come to Firozabad police station. The police party consisted of constables Shafiq Anjum, Namoos Khan, Mazhar Hussain, Aijaz Ahmed and Abdul Lateef. When his father and friends went to Firozabad police station they were not allowed to enter the police station and were told that ASI Jaffery was busy interrogating the victim and they should return tomorrow. The next day when Butt went to see his son he was told that he had been killed the previous night in a police encounter and that the body could be collected from the mortuary of Edhi center, a NGO. When Mr. Butt saw the body he counted six bullet wounds about the torso and many torture marks. He also contacted the Baloch colony police station, in whose jurisdiction police encounter occurred, but the police refuse to enter the FIR. He also tried to lodge an FIR at Firozabad police station against the police officials who abducted his son but here he was told that the police could also kill him in a fake police encounter. The Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Bin Qasim town received his application for an FIR but did not act on it.
After finding no support from high police officials Mr. Butt filed an application to the court of the additional and session judge south Karachi on January 12 for lodging an FIR and investigation into the killing of his son. The next day the court ordered the police to file the FIR against the accused persons. During the court proceedings the police claimed that Mr. Butt’s son died in a police encounter at Ambala Bakery, PECHs Block 6. But the postmortem report proved the report of police to be false. On January 14 when he went to the Baloch colony police station Mr. Butt found that an FIR was already filed by the police based on his previous application which did not mention the 14 torture marks on his body as mentioned in the post mortem report.
The court also ordered that as the case is very serious an enquiry must be conducted by an officer of no less rank than Senior Superintendent of Police. Before the court order the provincial minister of Interior Affairs, Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza also ordered an inquiry of the case on December 31 by high officials. However, since then no accused person has been arrested and instead they are threatening the victim’s family to retract the case otherwise they would again face the same fate.
This case reveals how the police view the official and legal orders of the court with the utmost contempt.
The post mortem report conducted by the doctors from Jinnah Post Graduate medical centre, a federal government hospital, revealed that the deceased received six bullet wounds at close range of around three feet. Five of the wounds were blackened indicated flash burns (rounds fired at point blank range). Another wound was found on the right side of the thigh. He also had 14 torture marks on his body which the police have not mentioned in the FIR filed.
The Firozabad police have still not returned the victim’s belongings to his family, which include a 125 CC Honda motor bike, its registration book, his cell phone, two gold rings and one gold chain.
It is alleged that deputy superintendent of police (DSP) of Jamshed town, Muhammad Akhtar, is protecting the accused persons, particularly ASI Jaffery. It is also alleged to get the case B classified which means that the FIR is fictitious. He has also threatened the father of the victim not to pursue the case. It is also alleged that there is a group of land grabbers which have good connections with the police for grabbing public land. The group consists of six brothers namely; Akhtar Rahola, Muhammad Muzaffar Bhutto, Mr. Mazhar, Muhammad Mudasir, Muhammad Musharraf and Muhammad Mudabir, sons of Muhammad Azher. The victim’s family accuse that these brother have affiliations with different political parties which are part of the ruling alliance. They have allegedly grabbed the land of Radio Pakistan at Quidabad, Karachi and Mr. Butt was filing cases in favour of the actual allottees of the land which infuriated the perpetrators to the point where they took revenge on him.
ASI Faisal Jaffery is considered an expert in the extra judicial killings and in many cases his services are taken. In a recent event he killed a Christian student, Pervez Masih, after his arrest from the same Baloch Colony and claimed that he was killed in a police encounter. In another case, he killed another student, Adil Malik son of Sabir Malik, from the same area on October30, 2010 in the night at 10.30 pm when he was going to pay his tuition fees. Allegedly Jaffery snatched the fee and on resistance shot him dead.
The fake police encounters are a common method of police enforcement in the country and usually victim’s family members do not pursue the case because of threats from the police to take revenge in the same way. During the year 2010 many cases of fake encounters were reported but not a single person was punished because of the weak criminal justice system and absence of witness protection. The reforms in the policing system were demanded many decades ago but this has never been the subject of legislators and the government. In 2001 the police order was introduced but quickly the military government of Musharraf withdrew it and the police got more powers than before without any accountability.
Please write the letters to the authorities to have an independent enquiry into case of the fake police encounter conducted by the officials of Firozabad and Baloch colony police station in which a young man was killed just after his abduction by the police in presence of many persons. Please urge the authorities to arrest the accused persons named in to the FIR and prosecute all police officials involved in the case. Also urge them to compensate the family members of the victim and halt the police encounters.
The AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of extra judicial killing calling for his intervention into this matter.
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear ___________,
PAKISTAN: A young man killed in fake police encounter- police refuse court and interior minister’s orders for inquiry
Name of victim:
Mr. Muhammad Ali Butt, 33, son of Mr. Muhammad Yousuf Butt advocate, resident of
House number 17, street number 2, sector A, Usman Ghani Road, Manzoor Colony, Karachi, Sindh province
Names of alleged perpetrators:
1. Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Faisal Jaffery, Firozabad police station, Jamshed town, Karachi, Sindh province
2. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Muhammad Akhtar, Jamshed town, Karachi, Sindh province
3. Constable Shafiq Anjum, Firozabad police station, Jamshed town, Karachi, Sindh province
4. Constable Namoos Khan, Firozabad police station, Jamshed town, Karachi, Sindh province
5. Constable Mazher Hussain, Firozabad police station, Jamshed town, Karachi, Sindh province
6. Constable Aijaz Ahmed, Firozabad police station, Jamshed town, Karachi, Sindh province
7. Constable Abdul Lateef, Firozabad police station, Jamshed town, Karachi, Sindh province
8. Akhtar Rahola, son of Muhammad Azher, resident of House number E-14, Radio Pakistan Colony, Quidabad, Landhi town, Karachi, Sindh province
9. Muhammad Muzaffar Bhutto, son of Muhammad Azher, resident of House number E-14, Radio Pakistan Colony, Quidabad, Landhi town, Karachi, Sindh province
10. Mr. Mazhar, son of Muhammad Azher, resident of House number E-14, Radio Pakistan Colony, Quidabad, Landhi town, Karachi, Sindh province
11. Muhammad Mudasir, son of Muhammad Azher, resident of House number E-14, Radio Pakistan Colony, Quidabad, Landhi town, Karachi, Sindh province
12. Muhammad Musharraf son of Muhammad Azher, resident of House number E-14, Radio Pakistan Colony, Quidabad, Landhi town, Karachi, Sindh province
13.Muhammad Mudabir, son of Muhammad Azher, resident of House number E-14, Radio Pakistan Colony, Quidabad, Landhi town, Karachi, Sindh province
Date of incident:28 December 2010
Place of incident:Sector- A, Usman Ghani Road, Manzoor Colony, Karachi
I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding the killing of a young man, the son of a lawyer, in a fake police encounter in Karachi, Sindh province. More than two and half months have passed but none of the perpetrators have been arrested. A sessions court and provincial home minister ordered an inquiry into the case but police ignored the orders and instead provided protection to the land grabbers and police officials who were involved in the abduction and subsequent killing of the victim in a fake encounter.
I am shocked that when father of the victim, a prominent lawyer, tried to file first information report (FIR) he was refused for almost 16 days but after the intervention from session court the FIR was filed in which again police refused to mention the torture marks on victim’s body which were pointed out in the post mortem report conducted at Jinnah hospital, Karachi.
A lawyer, Mr. Muhammad Yousuf Butt, was punished by the police and land grabbers by the killing of his son in a fake police encounter. Mr. Butt was an activist during the lawyer’s movement for the restoration of the Chief Justice, Iftekhar Choudhry, when he was suspended by the then military ruler, General Musharraf. Butt was also injured during the movement when a homemade bomb was exploded in the procession which was proceeding to receive the Chief Justice at Karachi Airport on 12 May 2007, when the CJ was refused permission to visit the Karachi. He was very vocal against the land grabbing of government plots by the police and land grabbers. On many occasion he and his sons were implicated in false cases which later on proved to be false.
On 28 December 2010, at 22.05, when Mr. Butt and his son, Mr. Muhammad Ali Butt, a constable in the reserved police (not regular police force), along with some other persons having a fire outside their house in Manzoor colony, Jamshed quarters town, Karachi, Sindh province, two police vehicles from Firozabad polices station and Baloch colony police station along with two Toyota cars arrived at the scene. Eleven persons, six policemen and five in plain clothes, came out and took Muhammad Ali, the son of the lawyer, towards the police vehicles. The Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Faisal Jaffery, who was leading the police party, told the people that he was required at the police station and they also took away his motor bike. ASI Jaffery told his father to come to Firozabad police station. The police party consisted of constables Shafiq Anjum, Namoos Khan, Mazhar Hussain, Aijaz Ahmed and Abdul Lateef. When his father and friends went to Firozabad police station they were not allowed to enter the police station and were told that ASI Jaffery was busy interrogating the victim and they should return tomorrow. The next day when Butt went to see his son he was told that he had been killed the previous night in a police encounter and that the body could be collected from the mortuary of Edhi center, a NGO. When Mr. Butt saw the body he counted six bullet wounds about the torso and many torture marks. He also contacted the Baloch colony police station, in whose jurisdiction police encounter occurred, but the police refuse to enter the FIR. He also tried to lodge an FIR at Firozabad police station against the police officials who abducted his son but here he was told that the police could also kill him in a fake police encounter. The Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Bin Qasim town received his application for an FIR but did not act on it.
In my considered opinion it was the intentional attempt from the police to delay the legal process and protect its officials—a criminal negligence on the part of the police to deny the basic right of a citizen to file the FIR.
After finding no alternative, Mr. Butt filed an application in to the court of addition and session judge south Karachi on January 12 for lodging an FIR and investigation in to the killing of his son. The next day court ordered the police to file the FIR against the accused persons. During the court proceedings police claimed that he died in a police encounter at Ambala Bakery, PECHs Block 6. But the postmortem report proved that the report of police was absolutely false. On January 14 when Mr. Butt went to Baloch colony police station he found that an FIR had already been filed the police based on his previous application which did not mention the 14 torture marks on his body as post mortem report mentions.
It is shocking for me that the session court also ordered the police that as case is very serious an enquiry must be conducted by an officer of no less rank than Senior Superintendent of Police and the same was ordered by the provincial mister of interior affairs, Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza on December 31, but police ignored the orders thereby showing their utmost contempt towards the courts.
The post mortem report conducted by the doctors from Jinnah Post Graduate medical centre, a federal government hospital, revealed that the deceased received six bullet shots at close range of around three feet, five bullet shots had flash burns indicating that the rounds were fired at point blank range and another wound was found on the right side of the thigh. There were also 14 torture marks on the body. In their FIR the police have not mentioned 14 torture marks.
In another criminal act the Firozabad police have still not returned back the victim’s belongings; those are a Honda motor bike 125 CC, its registration book, his cell phone, two golden rings and one golden chain.
I am appalled to know that the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) of Jamshed town, Muhammad Akhtar, is protecting the accused persons particularly ASI Jaffery and is attempting to have Mr. Butt’s FIR treated as fictitious. He has threatened the father of the victim not to pursue the case. It is also alleged that there is a group of land grabbers which has good connection with the police for grabbing the public land.
The land grabbers who are working in nexus with the accused police officials have links with the ruling alliance in provincial government, three are from MQM, one is from Pakistan Peoples’ Party, one from Pagara Muslim League and one from Muslim League –Q. The group consists of six brothers namely; Akhtar Rahola, Muhammad Muzaffar Bhutto, Mr. Mazhar, Muhammad Mudasir, Muhammad Musharraf and Muhammad Mudabir, sons of Muhammad Azher. They have allegedly grabbed the land of Radio Pakistan at Quidabad, Karachi and Mr. Butt was filing the cases in favour of the actual allottees of the land which infuriated the perpetrators to take the revenge from him.
It is unbelievable for me that ASI Faisal Jaffery is considered as an expert in the extra judicial killings and in many cases his services are taken. In a recent event he killed a Christian student, Pervez Masih, after his arrest from the same Baloch Colony and claimed that he was killed in police encounter. In another case, he killed one student, Adil Malik son of Sabir Malik, from the same area on October30, 2010 in the night at 10.30 pm when he was going to pay the tuition fee. Jaffery snatched the fee and on resistance he shot him dead.
The whole case has put me in agony and distress, therefore, I urge you to conduct an impartial enquiry in to the case of fake police encounter in view of the additional session court’s order and postmortem report of Jinnah hospital which clearly says that victim was shot with six bullets from a very close range of three feet and before killing he was tortured and having 14 torture marks. I also urge that the concerned police officials of the Firozabad and Baloch colony police stations and DSP Akhter of Jamshed town should be prosecuted in killing a young man in fake police encounter and protecting the perpetrators. They should be tried for not following the law and using their official powers.
I hope you will do needful support to the victim’s family and provide all legal help.
Yours sincerely,
—————-
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Mr. Asif Ali Zardari
President of Pakistan
President’s Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Tel: +92 51 9204801/9214171
Fax: +92 51 9207458
Email: publicmail@president.gov.pk
2. Mr. Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani
Prime Minister of Pakistan
Prime Minister House
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: + 92 51 9221596
E-mail: secretary@cabinet.gov.pk
3. Syed Qaim Ali Shah
Chief Minister
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 920 2000
E-mail: pppsindh@yahoo.com
4. Mr. Raza Rabbani
Federal Minister for Human Rights
Ministry of Human Rights
Old US Aid building
Ata Turk Avenue
G-5, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 9204108
Email: sarfaraz_yousuf@yahoo.com
5. Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Mirza
Minister for Home affairs
Government of Sindh, Sindh secretariat
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Tel: +92 21 399204920
Fax: +92 21 99204922
E-mail: secy.home@sindh.gov.pk
6. Mr. Muhammad Ayaz Soomro
Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs & Criminal Prosecution Service
Sindh Assembly Building,
Court road, Karachi, Sindh province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9211982
E-mail: secy.law@sindh.gov.pk
7. Chief Justice of Sindh High Court
High Court Building
Saddar, Karachi
Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9213220
E-mail: info@sindhhighcourt.gov.pk
8. Ms. Nadia Gabol
Minister for Human Rights
Government of Sindh,
Pakistan secretariat, Barrack 92,
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9207044
Tel: +92 21 9207043
Email: lukshmil@yahoo.com
9. Dr. Faqir Hussain
Registrar
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Constitution Avenue, Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: + 92 51 9213452
E-mail: mail@supremecourt.gov.pk
10. Inspector General of Police
Police Head office, I. I. Chundrigar road
Karachi, Sindh Province
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 21 9212051
E-mail: ppo.sindh@sindhpolice.gov.pk
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
