Rangers shoot unarmed civilian point blank.

[Magda Hassan]

Now, why was it they hate the US again?

[Peter Lemkin]

The Rangers said they shot him because he pulled a gun on them.....but they didn't know it was all being filmed. Now they have changed their story....to what I do not know. There was only a man, unarmed, surrounded by six armed men begging not to be shot. He was shot for his begging to not be shot and allowed to bleed to death. What a piece of work [or shit!] is 'man'....:darthvader:

The death of Sarfaraz Shah
By Editorial
Published: June 9, 2011

Relatives and residents offer prayers for shooting victim Sarfaraz Shah during his funeral in Karachi on June 9, 2011, after he was shot by Pakistani paramilitary soldiers on the pretext of being an armed robber.

We watched in disgust as a mob in Sialkot lynched a suspected criminal while the police stood idly by, watching the carnage. The shooting at point-blank range of an unarmed civilian by Rangers on June 8, in Karachi's Benazir Bhutto Park may be even worse. In this case, law enforcement authorities were not just malicious bystanders but active participants in the violence. Nineteen-year-old Sarfaraz Shah was confronted and then shot by Rangers, who claimed that he was a robber who refused to surrender, although the footage of the incident does not support these claims. The video showed Shah beg for mercy as Rangers personnel surrounded him. His pleas to be taken to a hospital went unanswered, as he bled to death.

The incident is shocking there is no law in the world that allows such cruelty to be meted out to a robber. The Rangers said that Shah was armed but all the police were able to recover was a toy gun. Too often we hear tales of police brutality and shrug it off. We should not reserve our outrage only for those instances when police inhumanity is captured on camera. The incident has attracted the attention of the prime minister and various political parties, all of whom have vowed to hold the Rangers officials accountable. Let us not fool ourselves into thinking that this response has been engendered by anything other than the fact that the ruthless murder was filmed. Police and paramilitary officials who think their badges give them immunity from prosecution are a dime a dozen and the sad part is that they are right. When eyewitness testimony is the only evidence available, police encounters' always end up with innocent people dead and the police spared.

An investigation needs to be conducted by an independent commission, not by the Rangers, which should arrive at its findings within a reasonable period of time. These findings should be made public, so that the guilty people can be punished. However, prosecution of the officials responsible is only the start of the solution. The police and Rangers need to have instilled in them values that are expected to be upheld by the guardians of the law.


Published in The Express Tribune, June 10th, 2011.

[Peter Lemkin]

KARACHI: More than 24 hours after a video footage showed Rangers personnel shooting to death from point-blank range an unarmed young man in Karachi, efforts made on Thursday to bring the perpetrators to justice appeared to be poorly coordinated, with the federal interior minister announcing the setting up of a joint investigation team, the chief of the paramilitary force declaring that an in-house inquiry board would be established and the police investigators still waiting for senior's permission to initiate a process for determining the facts of the case.

The accused personnel, Rangers DG Major General Ejaz Chaudary said, had already been arrested by the paramilitary force after the video footage went on air and they would face an inquiry board headed by a brigadier.

"We have arrested all the six suspects, who were in the mobile deputed outside the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Park," he told a group of media personnel. "In this particular incident, there was sheer negligence on the part of the Rangers officials. I would also tell you to get our inquiry completed. Once it's over, every fact would be shared with you and people."

He said the Rangers had the responsibility of maintaining peace in the city and they play their role in the line of their duty and opened fire only in self-defence.

"There is a negligence in this particular case and let me assure you that anyone found involved in our inquiry would face action in line with the defined laws," he added.

For many, the video left no margin for investigation, rather questioning of the suspects for the motive behind the firing. Even to the adviser to prime minister on human rights, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, it was an open and shut case'.

"I don't think that there would be any need for such a lengthy investigation into the incident after the footages came on record," he told reporters after meeting the family of Sarfaraz Shah, the victim of Rangers' shooting.

The video aired on local news channels showed a man in civilian clothes holding Sarfaraz by his hair and kicking him towards a group of about half a dozen Rangers personnel. A soldier pointed his rifle at Shah's neck and the latter pleaded for mercy.

"I am helpless," he could be heard in the video.

The men surrounded Shah and as he moved towards one with his arms outstretched, he was pushed back and shot twice in the hand and leg. A longer version of the video posted on YouTube and social networking websites showed Sarfaraz lying on the ground, screaming and requesting the Rangers to take him to hospital.

The facts exposed by the video, however, failed to convince the authorities to make coordinated efforts to ensure justice and satisfy millions of citizens who watched the video, and thereby help the armed and paramilitary forces facing severe criticism after the Abbottabad raid, Kharotabad incident and the deadly attack on PNS Mehran, avoid another controversy.

"The probe into the matter will ensure transparency and the findings of the JIT will be made public and investigation will be done in a transparent manner," said Interior Minister Rehman Malik while talking to newsmen after presiding over a meeting at the Chief Minister's House to review the city's law and order. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, the Rangers DG, Sindh IG Fayyaz Leghari and representatives of intelligence agencies attended the meeting.

He said there was no doubt about the video clips and it was totally an injustice' on the part of the Rangers personnel. He said the law would take its own course. The minister, however, did not explain why the investigation process had been launched by different institutions separately whereas the main investigative organisation city police in such cases remained directionless.

"Since the Sindh Rangers is a paramilitary institution, there is some internal process or inquiry going on," said DIG Investigation Iftikhar Tarar. "The suspects have not yet been handed over to police by the Rangers. It may hardly take a week and then they will be handed over to police for further investigations. By the time, we will gather more evidences and facts related to the case."

Cameraman receives threat:

A cameraman who recorded the shooting to death of an unarmed youngster by Rangers personnel received threats on Thursday from unknown callers, according to the organisation he works for and media houses and journalist bodies.

The cameraman of Awaz TV, a Sindhi news and entertainment channel, started receiving threatening calls on Thursday morning after the footage he had recorded was broadcast by almost all news channels.

"We informed Interior Minister Rehman Malik and officials of the Sindh government about the threat. Despite assurances about security given by them no measure has been taken to protect his life," said Zaryab Khaskheli, the assistant news director of Awaz TV.

He said the cameraman had done his duty and not violated any rule or law.

The situation also set alarm bells ringing in media organisations and journalist bodies which criticised the increasing threat faced by people gathering and disseminating news.