Daily Times

KARACHI: The girl who was allegedly accompanying 19-year-old Intezar Ahmed when police officers gunned him down in Karachi says she did not see the shooters, a private news channel report.

The teenage boy was killed after Anti Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) officers opened fire on his car on Khayaban-e-Ittehad road of the upscale Defence Housing Authority (DHA) area late Saturday. The girl, a friend of the deceased whose identity has not yet been disclosed, was accompanying Intezar when the incident happened but police officials say she left shortly afterwards. Police have now approached her but say they have not yet recorded an official statement.

“The CCTV footage of the incident is with the police and eight of the nine police personnel named in the case have been arrested,” DIG Police South Azad Khan told reporters at a press conference. He said that the girl “appears to have no link” to the incident. “She is a witness to the incident and her privacy must be protected,” Khan said. According to sources, the girl has told police that she did not see the assailants due to the intensity of the sudden firing. Police are making efforts to record a formal statement of the girl to make it a part of the investigation, they said.

Sources said the girl confirmed she was in the car with Intezar when the police opened fire. She used a rickshaw to leave the scene, they said. A case was registered at the Darakshan Police Station against unidentified persons on Sunday, despite the fact that four policemen were taken into custody due to their alleged involvement in the case.

The deceased’s father, Ishtiaq Ahmed, had informed the media that Intezar, who had recently come back from Malaysia, had a fight with two men two days back – Fahad and Haider, sons of a lawyer and policeman, respectively. SSP South Javed Akbar had earlier said that 15 bullet cases of 9mm were recovered from the crime scene, adding that a girl was also with the deceased, who fled after the incident.

Parents appeal to CJP, COAS for justice Intezar’s family appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan and the chief of army staff for justice on Sunday. Speaking to the media at a press conference, the counsel for the victim’s family Mohammad Asif said the boy was in a conscious state until a few hours before the incident and was at a friend’s house. “There was a clear intention to kill,” said the lawyer, explaining that bullet holes in the car show the police aimed to kill and not stop him.

Published in Daily Times, January 16^th 2018.