Daily Times

KARACHI: The Rangers on Tuesday informed the Sindh High Court (SHC) that they had no powers to investigate into the mysterious incidents of women’s stabbing in Karachi, particularly in its Gulistan-i-Jauhar area.

A division bench, comprising Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto and Justice Abdul Malik Gaddi, was hearing a petition filed by Justice Helpline, a non-governmental organisation, submitting that over a dozen women had been attacked with sharp-edged weapon in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Gulshan-i-Jamal, Dalmia, Nipa Chowrangi and adjacent areas but police had miserably failed to track down the attacker. During the hearing, when a provincial law officer questioned the maintainability of the petition, the court observed that it would hear the case regardless of its maintainability as the matter was directly related to the public interest.

In its report, police submitted that 10 out five cases registered after stabbing of women had been declared A-class as investigators found no clue whatsoever about the identity of the attacker.

While putting off the matter until December 13, the court issued a notice to deputy attorney general and sought comments by the next hearing. Earlier, Advocate Nadeem Shaikh and Atam Parkash submitted in their petition that the women were frightened by the stabbing incidents but police and other relevant departments had miserably failed to nab the suspect. They said that the investigative authorities were confused about the identity and motive of the attacker.

Justice Helpline had requested the court that investigation into the mysterious knife attacks be carried out by Rangers and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) instead of the “incompetent police”.

Published in Daily Times, November 22^nd 2017.