As family waited for body, police hurried to prove Rangers shooting victim was a ‘robber’

Sarfaraz Shah, the 18-year-old young man shot dead by a Rangers sepoy in broad daylight on Wednesday, was laid to rest on Thursday in the Paposhnagar graveyard. But while the family waited outside the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) to retrieve the body, Clifton Town Police Officer (TPO) Tariq Dharejo was busy ensuring that the Shah was described as a “robber” in all documents prepared by the police – ostensibly to cover the backs of the officials involved in the killing.
Shah’s body had been taken to the JPMC for post-mortem procedures, but various excuses were provided to the family of the deceased as TPO Dharejo had called with express instructions not to release the body to the heirs till he was mentioned as a robber in all paperwork drawn up in the case. In fact, one source claimed that the post-mortem report listed the boy’s profession as a “robber.”
The Rangers and police had been claiming that Shah had been toting a toy gun at a family member of an unnamed police officer; in fact, this is the same officer who shoved Shah into the arms of the Rangers sepoys. This toy gun has been recovered, claimed a police official.
Dharejo eventually got his way: a total of three first information reports (FIRs) have been lodged at the Boat Basin Police Station. Two of the FIRs, No 225 and No 226, have been filed naming Sarfaraz Shah as a robber. A third FIR was filed against two Rangers personnel, Afzal and Shahid Zafar. TPO Dharejo claimed that five Rangers sepoys had been arrested; he added, however, that legal action cannot be initiated against them till they are court-martialled as they are paramilitary security officials.
Better sense prevailed in the Chief Minister’s (CM) House, however, as CM Qaim Ali Shah ordered an inquiry and suspended a senior police official for posthumously charging the youngster with robbery.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people, including senior journalists and different local leaders of political parties, attended Shah’s funeral prayers that were offered in Hijrat Colony. Moving scenes were witnessed inside the victim’s residence, with female relatives desperately trying to pacify the family – albeit unsuccessfully.