Rights activists demand judicial inquiry into Shahnawaz Kanbhar’s killing

HYDERABAD: Civil society activists have demanded a judicial inquiry into the killing of Shahnawaz Kanbhar, a doctor who was accused of blasphemy and shot dead in an alleged police encounter.

A large number of rights activists offered the funeral prayers in absentia for Dr Kunbhar in Jainro village of Umerkot district on Sunday afternoon.

On the occasion, Muhammad Ayub, the uncle of the deceased, said that on the morning of the 12th Rabiul Awwal, he came to know that some inappropriate posts had been posted from the ID of his nephew.

At night, the deceased contacted him and said that he was in Karachi, and his ID had not been used for three years.

He claimed that the Mirpurkhas CIA Police arrested Dr Kunbhar from a hotel in Karachi and killed him in a fake encounter the next morning. After killing him, his father was not allowed to take the body, and extremists forcibly took it away and burnt it, Ayub added.

He said the family was even not allowed to bury the body at a local cemetery, after which they interred it in their agricultural land.

Rights activist Masood Lohar told The News that prevention of such incidents was necessary, and the local police and administration should play a proactive role.

He said that the police were likely not to conduct a transparent inquiry, so an inquiry commission should be formed under a judge of the Sindh High Court to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Mukhtiar Abbasi, another civil society member, said Dr Kanbhar's mental condition was bad for four years.

He said the slain man’s family, including his parents, widow and children, were afraid. He added that fundamentalists had announced a head money of Rs5 million to have Dr Kanbhar killed.

He said the residents of Sindh were demanding a judicial inquiry into the incident because the police themselves were a party to the incident.