KARACHI: The Sindh government on Monday approved Rs5 million compensation for each of the two Machhar Colony lynching victims and constituted a committee on the matter.
The decisions were taken during a provincial cabinet meeting presided over by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah who was briefed about the last week’s incident, according to a handout issued by the CM Office.
On Friday last week, a vigilante mob had lynched two telecom workers and torched their vehicle after some miscreants spread rumours that they were kidnappers and roaming the area with the intention to abduct children.
Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ghulam Nabi Memon told the meeting’s participants today that the deceased were identified as Aimen Javed, hailing from Thatta, and Ishaq Maher of Naushero Feroze.
They were visiting Machhar Colony to check the signals of a mobile tower, but residents believed them to be kidnappers and killed them, he said.
The meeting’s participants were told that 15 suspects identified in the case had been arrested so far.
On Saturday, Deputy Inspector General of Police Irfan Ali Baloch told reporters that a case for the incident had been registered in which 15 named and more than 200 unnamed suspects were booked.
Besides the 15 arrests — including that of a key suspect — mentioned in today’s meeting police have detained several others in the murder case registered under the anti-terrorism law.
“An investigation has been initiated and the culprits will be brought to the book,” the Sindh police chief told the meeting.
Following the IGP’s briefing, CM Shah said such incidents could not be ignored and the “killers have to face the law”. The Machhar Colony incident and other instances of a mob killing individuals who were or believed to be offenders were a “question mark on the public confidence in our police,” he added.
“Therefore, we have to revisit laws to discourage mob justice and police have to develop public confidence,” the CM stressed.
The committee, comprising Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh, Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab, Special Assistant to the Sindh CM for the Rehabilitation of Special Children Sadiq Ali Memon, the Sindh IGP and the home secretary, was also asked to submit its recommendations on the issue.
Meanwhile, the committee formed will assess the need for the creation of a “Mob Management Police Force” to handle such cases.
Keamari SSP Janwari earlier told Dawn that two employees of a cellular firm were going to a desolate part of Machhar Colony in their vehicle to examine and fix the antenna of a mobile phone tower on Friday.
As they were passing through the area some miscreants started a rumour that they were kidnappers and moving around with the intention to abduct children, he added.
The SSP said around 500 to 600 people gathered in the area following the rumours, got hold of the two workers and started beating them with stones and other blunt weapons. They also set their vehicle on fire.
A police team, which was already in the area for providing security to health workers conducting an anti-polio drive, rushed to the scene as soon as they got the information, SSP Janwari said, adding that the law enforcers fired into the air in a bid to disperse the charged mob.
However, they could not save the two employees, who suffered catastrophic injuries and died at the scene.
