Daily Times

KARACHI: Following the increasing number of knife attacks on women in Karachi, the police high-ups have deployed at least 25 policewomen in Central District. At least two women were recently stabbed there. Police officials said that the decision regarding deployment of policewomen in Central District was made following the rising incidents of women stabbing. They said that the policewomen were deployed to protect women of becoming victims of the ‘knifeman’ and to arrest the culprit.

A senior police official of the Central District said that besides policewomen, uniformed and plainclothes personnel had also been deployed to trace and arrest the suspected knifeman, partially in Central District, while strict surveillance and deployment had also been made on the routes linking the Central District to East District.

It may be mentioned here that two incidents of stabbing have so far been reported in the district. In the latest incident, a fifteen-year-old girl named Eruj came under attack of the knifeman at Block 9 of the Federal B Area on Tuesday when the teenage girl was travelling on a motorcycle along with her brother. However, investigators have failed to probe both the cases.

Earlier, at least 13 women were injured in several such incidents in parts of East District, including Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Dalmia, Rashid Minhas Road, Pehlwan Goth and PIB Colony since September 25 when the attacks began. The police also issued a suspect’s picture with brief details multiple times, seeking help from citizens and also announcing reward money of Rs 1 million for anyone who would help the police trace the suspect.

On the other hand, there has been no development in the interrogation of prime suspect in a stabbing incident, as police investigators believe he was not involved in stabbing women in Karachi. Waseem is already in Sahiwal police custody after he was arrested in a joint raid by the police of Sindh and Punjab a few days back. In the past, Waseem had been involved in a number of cases of stabbing women in Sahiwal and Chichawatni.

Police investigators interrogating Waseem in Sahiwal believe that he was not involved in the incidents being reported in Karachi. They said it would be premature to say anything about the involvement of Waseem in those incidents until the investigation process was completed.

Published in Daily Times, October 20^th 2017.