National Highway cleared after 22 hours as sit-in against woman’s killing ‘by police’ called off

Despite failed negotiations with the police, protesting relatives of a woman, who was allegedly killed by police during a shootout with robbers on the National Highway on Thursday, called off their protest sit-in after 22 hours stating that they did not expect justice from the authorities and had left the matter to God.

East DIG Ghulam Azfar Mahesar personally met the bereaved family on Sunday and held negotiations. The sit-in by the Sammo community and local residents started on Saturday afternoon at the Sassi Toll Plaza on the National Highway. It continued for 22 hours.

The deceased woman’s brother, Yaqub Sammo, spoke to the media and said they did not expect justice from the authorities. He accused police of killing his sister.

“Since the incident, no one has listened to us,” he said, adding that the case was registered against the wishes of the family in favour of the killers. “We protested with the hope that justice would be served. We leave it to Allah; we did not receive justice. We are ending the sit-on”

Later, the East DIG spoke to the media. He stated that the case filed by the police was not against the bereaved family. “This was an accidental killing,” he explained, adding that the vehicle in which the woman was travelling was caught in crossfire.

The DIG maintained that the police proceeded in accordance with judicial orders, and alleged that the lawyer present with the family wanted the police to violate judicial orders. “We are ready for a judicial inquiry. Have the inquiry conducted by whoever you want. If the police made a mistake, the responsible personnel will be held accountable,” DIG Mahesar remarked.

He said that the protesting people were surely in distress but their sit-in on the National Highway had also been causing distress to the commuters. He said the protesters had been offered options for redress of their grievances but they were not willing to listen to anything other than own point of view.

Meanwhile, a cousin of the killed woman, Shahid, spoke to the media and stated that a police mobile first fired at their car from behind and then from a side. Shahid mentioned that after firing, police left the scene. He lamented that the case was not registered against the policemen who fired at their car.

He demanded that a case be registered against the Steel Town SHO and four other cops involved in the incident. He also said that the family had not yet received the post-mortem report.

A 60-year-old woman, Sara Ibrahim, was killed and her teenage daughter, 18-year-old Ghano, wounded in what the police stated to be an exchange of fire between them and armed suspects on Gulshan-e-Hadeed Link Road in Steel Town on Thursday evening.

In their initial statement, police claimed that patrolling cops tried to intercept a suspicious white Corolla but the suspects in the car opened fire on them. During the ensuing gunfight, two women in an Alto car were wounded. They were taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where one of them succumbed to her injuries.

As the demands of the bereaved family were not met regarding the case registration, they resorted to a sit-in on the National Highway on Saturday, as a result of which the highway remained blocked for several hours and hundreds of commuters, were stuck in the traffic jam. Those stuck in the jam included picknickers who were returning from Thatta.

The stranded people also claimed that the shops nearby started offering water and food items at exorbitant rates to exploit the situation. "We are sitting here hungry and thirsty, and no one is helping us." A water bottle that usually costs Rs30 is being sold for over Rs100. A plate of lentils is being sold for more than Rs500. Even a single piece of bread is being sold for over Rs100,” said one of the stranded people.

The traffic jam also trapped trailer trucks carrying livestock brought from Punjab. The lack of fodder and water affected the health of hundreds of animals. The traffic coming from Thatta was diverted towards Port Qasim and then to the Mehran Highway. Traffic going from Karachi to Thatta was also diverted from Port Qasim to the Mehran Highway, while traffic coming from Kathore was directed from Somar Goth to Memon Goth.