Police add ATA section in FIR of Shara-e-Faisal encounter

March 31, 2018

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KARACHI: Local police on Saturday incorporated Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) in the First Information Report (FIR) filed against the perpetrators who killed Maqsood, an innocent bystander killed in a shootout, in January at Shara-e-Faisal this year.

In a letter written to the court, the investigation officer of the case Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP) Zubair Khan informed the court that the ATA section was added after the initial enquiry suggested that it caused fear and terror among the residents of the area where Maqsood was killed.

He also sought 15 more days to submit the charge sheet, informing the court that the investigation into the initial FIR 41/2018 — filed soon after the incident by the police — is underway.

After the passage of a month into the incident, four policemen were booked under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code through an order of the court.

The victim’s family had earlier said that Maqsood was merely travelling with his rickshaw driver friend, Abdul Rauf, when the firing started and clarified that he had nothing to do with the with people that the police wanted to kill in the ‘encounter’.

The police, subsequently, admitted that Maqsood was innocent but claimed that he was not killed by the gun shots of police.

That version of the police also turned out to incorrect as, after the consistent effort of Maqsood’s family and the civil society, a fresh investigation into the incident was launched.