Another 19-month-old boy killed by police firing

A 19-month-old was shot dead on Karachi’s University Road on Tuesday. The family says the bullet was fired by a policeman while they were getting into an auto rickshaw.

The child was identified as Ahsan. According to the family, they were going to home in an auto rickshaw when they saw two policemen with pistols in their hands.

“We were in a rickshaw. We saw pistols in the policemen’s hands,” Ahsan’s mother said. “There were two bikes and they were firing at each other.”

The two policemen have been arrested and shifted to Sacchal police station, East DIG Aamir Farooqui confirmed. The policemen were identified as Amjad and Abdul Samad.

Amjad told that a man came to them and told them that there were some people on a motorbike and they had a pistol.

The other law enforcer said that they were following the suspects when they entered a crowded road. “I fired a bullet in the air and they shot at us,” he said.

The DIG told that the policemen were following street criminals on a motorbike and police is trying to ascertain what happened. This is not the first case of a civilian death due to police negligence.

Nimra, a student of Dow Medical College, died on February 22, after being shot during an attempted robbery near Anda Morr in North Karachi. Her family said the bullet that hit her was fired by the police but the police said it was fired by a robber. The authorities say there was a firefight with the dacoits in which one was killed and another was arrested in an injured condition.

On August 13 last year, 10-year-old Amal Umer was shot dead during a police shootout with robbers in Karachi’s Defence. The bullet that hit her was fired by a policeman.