Could be suicide bombers, so didn't step out: AIG CTD on Karachi police officers' video
April 09, 2019
KARACHI: The additional inspector-general (AIG) of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), Kamran Fazal, said Monday night he did not step out of his vehicle over the fear that people in the car his bodyguards had forcefully stopped could be suicide bombers.
Speaking on Geo News' programme Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath, Fazal was responding to a video that showed Karachi police officers allegedly "harassing" passengers in a car in the metropolis' Defence Housing Authority (DHA) locality. The clip had gone viral on social media earlier.
"No one was harassed by my gunmen's body language," the AIG CTD said. "In fact, it was the woman who came in front of my car to film everything on her phone.
"My family in the car was harassed by that woman," he retorted. "My family was hurt."
"I could have personally gone to speak to them but I did not step out of my car over the fear that people in the car [that his bodyguards had forcefully stopped] could be suicide bombers," he added, referring to the "existing law and order situation".
Fazal said he only wanted to explain his stance to the driver of the car and tell him of how he had violated the traffic rules. "My guards were very polite," he maintained.
Fazal, on the other hand, further commented that he had designated the deputy inspector-general (DIG) for District South as the inquiry officer in the matter. A report will be released in two days, he informed.
Earlier, on Monday, a video had surfaced showing police officers allegedly "harassing" citizens travelling in a car here in Karachi's DHA locality. The video — obtained by Geo News — showed that the car's way was blocked by a white double-cabin SUV.
Officers from the SUV had then come to the car they had stopped and asked the driver to step out.
The footage was recorded by one of the two people in the car, with the driver, as well as the woman capturing everything on video, engaging in the conversation.
The police officers were heard saying the two people in the car needed to get out of their car and "come and meet 'sir'," who was supposedly sitting in the white vehicle. To this, the man and woman had said they would not do so since they were ordinary citizens and that the 'sir' could come and meet them instead.
The man in the video clarifies to the police officers near his car that he had done nothing wrong and that it was the police car that had stopped them "in the middle of the road". Further, the woman also keeps asking the officers as to what the name of their 'sir' was.
The same day, Fazal had refuted the statements by the people in the car. He had said he was travelling with his family and that it was the car that had overtaken them and a couple of motorcycles, twice.
The driver, Fazal asserted, was driving his car in a reckless fashion. He also said that his officers stopped the car to ask what the driver's problem was and that the incident had taken place some four or five days ago.
