Court seeks explanation on police failure to arrest mysterious knifeman

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday issued notices to home secretary, provincial police chief and others to explain whether a mysterious knifeman who has stabbed more than a dozen women in the metropolis has been arrested.

A petition was filed in the court seeking its directives for the authorities to hand over the task of arresting the knife attacker to the Rangers and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

After initial hearing today, the court issued notices to the official respondents to submit their replies to the petition before the next hearing.

The petition states knife attacks have instilled fear into the hearts of women living in the city’s Gulistan-e-Johar and Gulshan-e-Iqbal areas. The police have failed to bring the culprit to book, it adds.

It states how incompetent the force is evident from the fact that Sindh government has offered Rs1 million reward for information on the knifeman.

The failure of police to arrest a mysterious knifeman stabbing women in the metropolis has left a blot on the performance of the law enforcement agencies and exposed their incompetence.

Earlier on Sunday, police had claimed to have arrested the infamous knifeman from Mandi Bahauddin city of Punjab.

Police officials said the knifeman identified as Waseem has been shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation. The suspect will be brought to Karachi for further interrogation.

However, the mystery still surrounds the motive behind the knife assaults on women, besides the number of attackers involved in the attacks.

On Friday, police said they had arrested an accomplice of the knife attacker. The attacker’ alleged accomplice, Mohammad Shehzad, was arrested after a knife was recovered from his possession.

As many as 15 women were stabbed by the knife-wielding suspect in various neighbourhoods of Gulshan Town in a span of 10 days.

The last attack of the stabbing spree, which began on September 25, was reported on Oct 5.