A former station house officer of the Sindh Police was shot dead in Karachi’s Steel Town area on Sunday, in an attack that also left his wife injured.
The victim was former SHO and police inspector Javed Abro. He was attacked in Steel Town, a neighbourhood in the eastern part of the city, and died from his injuries. His wife was also wounded in the attack.
Police said they were looking into the circumstances of the shooting. No motive for the attack had been made public, and no one had been named as a suspect in the initial reports of the incident.
Abro had served as a station house officer, one of the most visible and demanding roles in the police force, where an officer runs a police station and carries direct responsibility for law and order in its area.
Little else has been made public about the attack so far. Police have not said how seriously Abro’s wife was hurt, nor have they described the circumstances in which the shooting took place. Such details usually emerge as investigators record statements and examine the scene, and further information is expected in the coming days.
It is not the first such killing in recent days. On 29 October, a former station house officer, Nihal Brohi, was shot dead by unidentified armed men near Rustam Chowk in Shikarpur, according to police there, and the attackers fled. The two cases are separate, but together they underline the risks faced by former police officers in Sindh.
The killing has added to the sense of unease that follows every attack on a police officer in Karachi. Serving and former officers have been targeted in the city before, and each such incident revives questions about how safe those who once wore the uniform remain once they leave active duty. The focus now turns to the police investigation and whether those behind the attack can be traced.
Police have not yet released further details about the case. More information is expected as the investigation moves forward and officers piece together what happened in the moments before the shooting.
