Ghotki | Pakistan

HYDERABAD: Adilpur police registered a first information report (FIR) of the alleged gang rape of a teenage girl in Sindh’s Ghotki district on Tuesday, more than two weeks after the incident was said to have taken place. The FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn, was registered against 5 suspects on the complaint of the girl’s father under Section 376(2) of the Pakistan Penal Code. The said provision states: “When rape is committed by two or more persons in furtherance of common intention of all, each of such persons shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life.” According to the FIR, the incident took place on May 3 when the girl and her parents were working in the fields of a wadera (land owner). The FIR quoted the complainant as saying that his daughter was working some distance away from him and after a while, he heard her cries coming from the landowner’s dera (sitting room). He said his wife ran toward the dera after hearing their daughter’s cries. The landowner was present there along wi...

Seven bogies of the Pakistan Business Train, en route from Lahore to Karachi, derailed from the engine near Ghotki, Sindh, railway sources confirmed on Thursday.

The Sindh Police on Friday eliminated 12 “wanted criminals” during an ongoing search operation against dacoits in Ghotki, including those who had bounties placed on them by the Sindh government, according to a statement. For decades, dozens of dacoit gangs armed with sophisticated weaponry have operated with impunity in northern Sindh as well as southern Punjab. Kidnappings for ransom, extortion rackets that cripple local businesses, brutal killings and robbing people on highways have become a daily reality. The Sindh Home Department’s statement said that the operation was carried out under the supervision of Sukkur Deputy Inspector General Faisal Abdullah Chachar, with Ghotki Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Anwar Khetran, Sukkur SSP Azhar Mughal, Obaro Deputy Superintendent of Police Abdul Qadir Soomro, and their teams actively participating. “Twelve extremely dangerous criminals were killed, some of whom had bounties placed on them by the Sindh government,” the Sukkur DIG said. “A reward of Rs5 millio...

A local journalist, Tufail Rind, was shot dead by unidentified armed men in the Mirpur Mathelo area of Sindh’s Ghotki district on Wednesday morning, according to the police. The attack took place when he was on his way to drop his children off at school. According to a police press release, the shooting occurred on the Jerwar Road near Maso Wah, where the assailants riding a motorcycle opened indiscriminate fire at his car. “Rind died on the spot, while his children miraculously escaped unharmed,” the police said. Witnesses added that the attackers fled the scene after the assault, spreading panic across the area. The police later transported the body to the District Headquarters Hospital of Mirpur Mathelo for medico-legal formalities. The police statement said that upon receiving the information, Ghotki’s Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Anwar Khetran immediately reached the crime scene, inspected the site, and met with the victim’s family, issuing “strict orders to the concerned officers for prompt act...