A Glimpse of What Lies Ahead?

Three robbers burnt alive in Karachi
The News, May 15, 2008
By Salis bin Perwaiz

KARACHI: In a shocking incident of vigilante justice, a mob in Karachi on Wednesday burnt three bandits alive near the Timber Market, venting their anger and disgust over the rising crimes.

The gory incident took place when four robbers barged into Akbar Soomro’s apartment on the third floor in the Somiya Mukarram Palace, situated near the Timber Market. The robbers barged into his house at around 1:30 pm and held the children hostage at gunpoint. They cut the telephone line and electricity wires and locked the house from inside and started misbehaving with the women.

The bandits looted cash and jewellery. When they were about to flee, the door bell rang. When the bandits opened the door, they found Akbar, the head of the family. They shot and injured him and started fleeing.

Akbar, a seaman by profession, chased the bandits and made a hue and cry. The passers-by and residents of the area caught the three bandits and started beating them, while the fourth escaped. They immediately shifted Akbar to a hospital where he was declared out of danger.

In the meantime, 800 to 1,000 people gathered at the scene and started beating the robbers with fists, blows and sticks. Some people brought kerosene and petrol and sprinkled it over the bandits and the mob torched them. Some people resorted to aerial firing and also shot and injured the bandits before they were killed.

A large contingent of police tried to rescue the bandits but the public resisted and pushed the police back. Edhi workers who tried to save the bandits who were aflame were also beaten by the public. After a tough struggle of 20 minutes, the police managed to shift one injured bandit to hospital, while two bandits who were completely burnt died on the spot. The third bandit died in the hospital after struggling for life for two hours.

The residents said they were happy over the incident and praised the persons who had torched these robbers alive. The robbers, they said, looted the area people and had been killing them for just a cell-phone or cash. They added due to this, they had instructed their children not to resist and surrender cell-phones to the robbers. They said what the people achieved was justice because had the bandits been arrested, they would have been granted bail by the courts and would have resumed looting.

According to the residents, bandits regularly robbed the passers-by on Nishtar Road late at night and deprived the poor vendors of their day’s earnings. Station House Officer, Eidgah, Nasir Mehmood, said the bandits were unidentified and their bodies were shifted to the morgue. He added that they had found two TT pistols from the bandits and jewellery and Rs 20,000 looted from Akbar’s house.

The SHO said two FIRs were lodged – one by Akbar Soomro and the other on behalf of the state under the Arms Ordinance for the pistols recovered from the bandits.