Karachi park killing case taken up by Pakistan apex court
June 10th, 2011 - 2:41 pm ICT by IANS
Islamabad, June 10 (IANS) The gunning down of an unarmed young man, allegedly robbing visitors to a Karachi park, by paramilitary forces was taken up for hearing by the Pakistan Supreme Court Friday, Geo News reported.
Sarfaraz Shah, 25, was gunned down by the Sindh Rangers Wednesday evening outside the Benazir Shaheed Park in Karachi after he was allegedly caught snatching cash and valuables from visitors.
Footage released by news channels showed Shah was unarmed and was shot from a very close range. The video clips also reportedly showed he was pleading for mercy.
A five-member bench of the supreme court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary Friday began hearing the case, Geo News reported.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has promised to personally oversee the probe into the man’s killing.
The prime minister described the incident as “a matter of concern for the whole nation” as he tried to calm tempers of members of the National Assembly Thursday.
“I will look into it at a personal level, and the culprits will be brought to justice,” Gilani said.
Mustafa Nawaz Khokar, adviser to the prime minister on human rights, said the family of the killed man named two Rangers officials in their police complaint.
Rangers authorities Friday handed over the two personnel to the police.
The supreme court Thursday summoned the Rangers director general, provincial chief secretary, Sindh police inspector general, and provincial and federal home secretaries for Friday’s hearing.
Hearing the case, Justice Chaudhry said the Rangers were “involved in target killing instead of stopping it”, Geo News said.
The chief justice said the incident was enough for both the Rangers director general and Sindh inspector general of police to tender their resignations. He also directed Karachi police to determine if there was any criminal record against Sarfaraz Shah, the Dawn News reported.
On Thursday evening, Sarfaraz Shah’s relatives took his body to the Rangers headquarters in Karachi after offering funeral prayers and protested his killing.
The funeral procession heading towards the graveyard stopped for a while outside the Rangers headquarters and made the vociferous protest.
Enraged relatives chanted slogans against the Rangers. They were later asked to get back to their vehicles by the elderly men present in the procession. The funeral procession then headed towards the graveyard, officials said.
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Tags: apex court, benazir, chaudhry, chief secretary, close range, culprits, dawn news, geo news, gilani, news channels, pakistan supreme court, paramilitary forces, police complaint, police inspector, resignations, sarfaraz, shaheed, sindh, target, yousuf