Intezar murder case: JIT formed to ascertain individual roles of police officials in killing

• CTD says Intezar’s suspected shooters are from SSP Muqaddas Haider’s staff

KARACHI: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) officer, DIG Amir Farooqi, investigating the killing of 19-year-old Intizar Ahmed has called for a formation of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the individual roles of police personnel involved in the killing.

On January 14, Intizar was chased down and shot dead allegedly by nine undercover Anti-Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) personnel after he had reportedly failed to stop his car at a picket.

In a statement issued on Thursday, DIG Farooqi pointed out a number of violations of Standard Operating Procedures (SoP) by police personnel, including:

“Not a single person in the police party present at the scene was in uniform; vehicles used by the ACLC officers were privately owned; the stop and holdup of Intizar’s car created suspicion as if they were being kidnapped; the whole action was conducted in a haphazard and unprofessional way which resulted in the tragic death of Intizar.”

Moreover, the CTD has recommended the JIT to be formed after consultations with Intizar’s father “to ascertain and verify the role of each individual of police party present at the place of incident and [ACLC’s former chief] SSP Muqaddas Haider as well.”

Intizar’s father has been insisting on the involvement of SSP Haider in the killing of his son, and investigators on Wednesday recorded the senior police officer’s statement.

“The truth behind my son’s killing will not be revealed unless [the police] release the CCTV footage [of the crime scene],” he said, demanding the arrest of SSP Haider.

CTD DIG Aamir Farooqi had, earlier in the day, recorded statements of the eight police officials arrested in the case.

Moreover, the CTD officials identified the suspected shooters as Bilal and Daniyal — the former was the principal staff officer of suspended ACLC SSP Muqaddas Haider while the latter was his gunman. The officials said the presence of both officials, in plain clothes, at the time of the shooting is suspicious.

The CTD, which has recorded the statement of Madiha Kiyani, the girl who was in Intezar’s company on the night of the incident, has yet to determine the purpose of the killing.

Earlier, the deceased’s father, Ishtiaq Ahmed, said that the truth behind his son’s killing will not be revealed unless the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of the incident is released.

In a letter sent to representatives of various intelligence agencies, Sindh Rangers and Karachi police, DIG Farooqi said a JIT constituted to investigate Intizar’s murder would meet on January 26 at 11 am at the office of SSP Intelligence, CTD Civil Lines.