Korangi Road blocked in protest as young man shot dead by muggers

A 20-year-old citizen who was injured by robbers for putting up resistance to a bid to snatch his motorcycle in Korangi No. 2 ½ was laid to rest on Wednesday.

According to police, the incident took place on Tuesday night when the unknown robbers shot the victim, Huzaifa, critically injuring him. He was immediately taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where he succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday.

Following the incident, a large number of family members, other relatives and friends attended the funeral prayers of the deceased in Korangi. Residents and heirs of the victim also protested and blocked the main road at Korangi No. 2, demanding the arrest of the killers while chanting slogans against the police.

The police assured the protesters of their full cooperation and registered a case against the robbers. Further investigations are underway, and the police are working to bring the culprits to justice.

JI’s demand

Karachi Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has strongly condemned the police, other law enforcement agencies and the Pakistan Peoples Party government in Sindh for “putting Karachi and Karachiites at the mercy of street criminals”.

Talking to media persons after offering funeral prayers for another young victim of deadly street crime in Karachi, Huzaifa, in the Korangi area, he said that instead of arresting the killers, the police reportedly irked the family of the victim -- creating a new low in their performance and approach.

Rehman said that the “politicised and corrupt police” had totally failed in Karachi. As a result, he maintained, Karachiites had been facing skyrocketing deadly street crime.

He demanded drastic police reforms to restore the writ of the state in the city and the province and lambasted those who took the demand as an opportunity to exploit language and ethnicity-based divides in the society. It was an issue of merit and human lives, not a Sindhi-Mohajir conflict, he remarked.

He also wondered how killers were roaming freely in the neighborhoods without the support from within the law enforcers.

Rehman further said street criminals were killing Karachiites with impunity because they knew they would be set free by corrupt elements in police if they were ever arrested. He demanded of all those concerned to either discharge their duties or vacant their positions if they were unable to curb deadly street crime in the city.