Print Print edition: 2011-06-14

Killing of an innocent

Published Updated

Nobody with sane mind would support extra-judicial killing of anyone as by law a person is innocent unless proved otherwise. Looking at the TV footages on the killing of a young man in Karachi, the following points become apparent: The victim is seen trying to push back the gun and along with it the ranger. The action of the ranger seems to be a reflex action. This shows the poor training of the soldier to deal appropriately in situations like this.
Also, it seems the victim was shot in his legs. It doesn't look like a targeted killing as suggested by some. In targeted killings, the victims are shot in head, neck or chest.
After the shooting, the victim was left unattended crying for help. Even a child can tell that the first thing one does in such cases is to tie tightly the thigh to stop bleeding. It was not done. Again, this shows the poor training of the rangers. What is unforgivable is the first statement given by the police before the Awaz TV footage was made available.
To sum up; an innocent young person lost his life because of poor training of rangers. I don't know how the rangers are recruited; if it is like the ones seen in the police with a heavy baggage of 'Sifarish', than many more such killings will surface demeaning the name of military and para military forces.