Cops chasing smugglers shoot dead passer-by in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The police in the provincial capital have gone berserk as they shot dead a passerby in the crowded Phase-III Chowk of Hayatabad locality in a bid to stop alleged smugglers of foreign cloth.

It was learnt that the cops of the Hayatabad Police Station were chasing the foreign cloth-carriers, locally called gandamars, and opened fire on them in the Phase-III Chowk to stop them. The cops managed to stop the gandamars, but one of the bullets hit a passerby, identified as Mudeer Khan. He was accompanied by his family members when he was hit by the bullet.

People in the area got furious after seeing an elderly man lying in a pool of blood. A couple of women and other people got hold of the policemen on duty including an assistant sub-inspector and beat them up on the road.

The wounded man was taken to the Hayatabad Medical Complex, but he succumbed to his injuries.

“This is not the ‘misali’ (ideal) police that the government had promised us. It’s a complete failure of the government and the bosses of the force that their subordinates are now opening fire on the public in an urban area of the city and killing people while demanding more money from gandamars,” said an eyewitness who had seen the bleeding man.

Another eyewitness said that many persons had implored the policemen not to open fire but they didn’t pay any heed.

A large number of people gathered at the Hayatabad Phase-III Chowk after the incident and chanted slogans against the police force. The cops on duty became defensive after the firing incident and didn’t show any reaction to the slogans and slapping. The police officials also called an ambulance to shift the wounded man to the hospital. The videos of the incident made by the eyewitnesses went viral on social media prompting the government and the police bosses to start taking action against the cops.

There were reports that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had taken notice of the incident and directed the provincial police chief and capital city police officer to submit to him a report about it.

Inspector General of Police Mohammad Naeem Khan and Capital City Police Officer Karim Khan ordered the suspension of the cop concerned and lodging a case against him.

An official said they had also ordered departmental inquiry into the incident. “The SSP Operations has suspended the officer and closed him to the lines. The inquiry has also been ordered,” Inayat Ali Shah, the spokesman for the capital city police, told the members of the media.

Hundreds of gandamars are allegedly paying money to policemen on the routes they use right from Khyber district via Hayatabad and Pishtakhara up to Chamkani and Nowshera despite the fact that the police no more have the authority to stop smuggling.