Karachi cops confess to killing youth without provocation

• One cop, Shahryar, shot unarmed Amir Hussain twice.
• Another youth, Haider and a young girl survived shooting.
• Anti-terrorism court sends shooters on 5-day physical remand.

KARACHI: Three Karachi cops, facing charges of murdering a youth in an allegedly mistaken identity case have confessed to gunning down the unarmed citizen —without following the standard operating procedure —, investigating authorities told Geo News on Wednesday.

According to the investigating authorities, officer Shahryar fired two shots one after the other at Amir Hussain. They added that when they found Amir unarmed the cops put a government pistol on him to claim that he was carrying weapons. The cops shot the boy without any provocation.

The cops also to the probing team that they thought Amir had pulled out a pistol when Amir had gestured to them with his hand. They also added that the three cops were deployed on a motorcycle on Karachi’s Rashid Minhas Road.

Shahryar, the cop who fired the shots, and officer Nasir were appointed in 2018. The third cop, Faisal, was recruited in 2012.

Investigation authorities were also unable to find any criminal record of the Amir.

A case has been registered against the three police officials at Shahrah Faisal police station of Karachi.

ATC approves five-day physical remand

Meanwhile, a judge at an anti-terrorism court sent the three cops on a five-day physical remand a.

CCTV footage of incident

Geo News has also obtained the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the incident.

In the video,  a severely wounded Amir can be seen lying on the stairs with the three policemen holding their service pistols in their hands and standing over him [or his body].

In the video, one of the policemen can be seen checking the pockets of the injured Amir as another points his pistol at the gunshot-wounded youth.

Haider, the deceased's companion, can also be seen running down the street, while the video also shows a young girl crying her heart out after getting off the motorbike.

Video also shows residents of the apartment building flocking to the crime scene after the shooting.

The killing 

The trio of cops was arrested a day earlier for shooting dead one of the two young men, who allegedly fled them upon being challenged to stop for identification in the jurisdiction of Shahrah-e-Faisal Police Station.

According to Karachi East Deputy Inspector-General Muqaddas Haider, the cops chased them into a building near the Gulsitan-e-Jauhar's Jauhar Mor area, where they shot dead one of the young men, identified as Amir Hussain, as he was running up the stairs.

Senior Superintendent of Police (East) Abdul Raheem Sherazi and other officials investigated the shooting and reviewed the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the area.

The investigators found out that the three cops — Sheharyar, Faisal, and Nasir — involved in the incident were guilty of murdering the young man, the police official said.

Sherazi said both the youth were not carrying weapons — as opposed to the claim of the cops — and they also had a young girl with them on the bike, who, fortunately, remained safe.

He said that the authorities were in close contact with the victim's parents and a case has also been registered against the cops.