Karachi: Authorities on Wednesday promised to investigate an advertisement, published in local newspapers, regarding some missing people who were allegedly picked up by “unknown Rangers”.
Controversy erupted on Tuesday after the advertisement appeared in several newspapers, appealing to the public to let the police know the whereabouts of at least six missing persons who were “picked up by unknown Rangers officials”.
The pictures of the missing people were published claiming that they were detained on different days and time but were all residents of Orangi Town, a congested heterogeneous slum in western Karachi.
The advertisement was published by Fakhrul Islam Usmani, the deputy superintendent of police in Orangi Town.
The advertisement surprised many as it directly stated that the missing persons were picked up by the Rangers, a claim that several political parties and groups level against the paramilitary force which strongly deny it.
Syed Qaim Ali Shah, the chief minister of Sindh province, talking to the media, said the advertisements were a bid to create rift between the police and the Rangers.
“Both the forces are doing plausible work in combating crimes and maintaining law and order,” Shah told reporters.
“We have suspended the DSP and are investigating as to how such kind of advertisement were published in the newspapers,” he added.
The inspector general of Sindh police overnight set up a three-member committee to probe the matter and submit their report at the soonest.
The Paramilitary Rangers said the advertisement was anti-Rangers and an attempt to spoil the peace in Karachi.
A spokesman of the Rangers said that the advertisement was published under a systematic strategy to soil the Rangers’ image in the eyes of the general public. Such tactics were being used to damage the ongoing operation in Karachi.
The spokesman said the Rangers had themselves started a probe into the matter and would reach into the depth of the conspiracy against them.
Several groups and parties accuse law enforcement agencies of illegally arresting their workers and activists and their arrest is not shown on the record. Dozens of cases have been pending in the Sindh High Court, appealing the recovery of such missing people.
