Last night, a friend dropped me home from our usual chai hangout on one the Khayabans of Karachi’s Defence. It was a little past midnight. On the way, we were stopped by cops. As journalists, we can use the time-tested “choli-damaan ka saath” (our work goes hand in hand) spiel and be spared the barrage of intrusive questions.

This took place roughly 24 hours after another police stop had a different ending: the officer was fatally shot. This is probably why this assistant sub-inspector also asked my friend, who was driving, whether he was carrying any firearm. “The firearm that you might you have for your own safety,” he said as his head entered the car via the window. Till then, I had been buried in my phone but looked up just in time to see my friend breathe in the policeman’s face in what I can only describe as the Pakistani version of the breathalyzer test.

He then put to us the same questions about identity, employment, address, and destination as I shared my press card. He repeated the question about the ‘firearm for safety’ upon which my friend, who lives on the other side of the city and was already late, shot back as to why they were subjecting media personnel to such scrutiny when the person they should have caught was already out of Pakistan and en route to Sweden.

Cop killer and due process

On Monday night, two policemen of the Shaheen Force were out on patrol in Defence/Clifton in Karachi. A little before midnight they were at the intersection of Khayaban-e-Shamsheer (which goes straight to Sea View McDonalds) and 26th street (which takes you to Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine). They spotted a speeding vehicle (Toyota Mark-X) at the intersection with tinted windows and heard a woman’s scream, so they pursued it, according to the statement attributed to the slain officer’s partner and fellow constable Aminul Haq in the police report.

The two officers caught up with the speeding Mark-X , which is known for going from 0-100 in about eight seconds and has a top speed of 180 km/h, a little over a kilometre away from Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine.

At this point, one officer, Abdul Rehman, got off his motorcycle and was able to sit in the passenger seat of the vehicle while the woman escaped. Here, one needs a leap of faith to believe that the officers forced the driver to stop his vehicle long enough to give the woman time to escape and leave the doors unlocked so that the policeman could get in. There has been no CCTV footage surface yet of this passenger change or details about the whereabouts or CCTV footage of the woman in question.

With the officer in the passenger seat, the driver stepped on the accelerator and did another round of 26th Street, taking a U-turn from under the Abdullah Shah Ghazi flyover and back to the signal on the intersection of Shamsheer and 26th street. After that lap, he turned into E-Street, the cusp of Defence and Clifton, and both driver and passenger got out of the vehicle, according to the police report.

This is where the heated exchange took place leading to the fatal shootout. This fight was captured on video, by the slain officer, and the driver, Khurram Nisar, who shot him dead.

The conversation

Other than the CCTV footage, several other videos are doing the round including the one made by the slain officer. This video is 2 minutes and 39 seconds long. It is unedited.

Its transcript roughly goes like this:

Officer: You are holding a gun in your hand. Fire at me. Come on, do it.

Khurram: I can also make a video. I am doing it…

Officer: Why did you take out your weapon? Why did you take out your pistol?

Khurram: I have told you thrice… I swear to God, I’m the son of Nisar Ahmed. He is a retired (inaudible).

The officer then repeats the question about why he took out the pistol several times.

Khurram: I don’t know why I took out the pistol. Why did you open my door?

Officer: I suspected something….which is why I stopped you. Why did you take out the pistol?

Khurram: I have a licensed weapon. I can take it out against anyone I want.

Officer: But why did you take it out for me? What did I do?

Khurram: How do I know who you really are…?

Officer: I am a policeman. I am wearing the uniform.

Khurram: I have been telling you my father’s name is Nisar Ahmed. My name is Khurram Nisar.

Officer: Will you shoot me?

Khurram: Why would I?

Officer: Shoot me.

Khurram: Why did you point your guns (becomes inaudible) You took out your gun when we were in the car.

Officer: You come with us to the police station. Sit in the car.

Khurram: Where will we go?

Officer to someone not in the video frame: Call the mobile.

Khurram: Yes, call the mobile and let’s go. Also tell me which police station are you from.

Officer Abdur Rehman: I am telling you…first sit in the car.

Khurram: Tell me.

Officer Abdur Rehman: You have the pistol in your hand. Will you shoot me?

Khurram: What police station are you from?

Officer Abdur Rehman: Sit in the car.

Khurram: You tell me which police station and I swear to God I will go straight to that place.

Officer Abdur Rehman: Come to Defence police station. [Defence police station is at the other end of Defence near Korangi Road. The two officers were deployed at another, Darakshan police station.)

Khurram: Which police station in Defence?

Officer Abdur Rehman: The one nearby.

Khurram: Which one? Darakshan…?

Officer Abdur Rehman: Are you planning to shoot me?

Khurram: I don’t want to shoot you..

Officer Abdur Rehman: See, you have a bullet in your gun’s chamber.

Khurram: I haven’t seen your identification.

Khurram then says something about how officer Abdur Rehman could have acquired his uniform from somewhere.

Officer Abdur Rehman: I have a government vehicle.

Khurram: You guys showed up suddenly. I stopped my car and see who you were…

Officer Abdur Rehman: See, you have the pistol. That’s why I stopped you because you have a pistol.

Khurram: Do you have a pistol?

Officer Abdur Rehman: Yes, I am a policeman.

Khurram: So I also told you… My father was a government servant for forty years.

Officer Abdur Rehman: If he is a government servant, does that mean you will shoot me?

Khurram: Which means you can stop me in the manner that you did…badmaashi dikhayee ga (Throw you weight around)?

At this point, at 1:26 mins into the video, Khurram’s posture changes with his right leg resting on the car and the arm with the gun resting on his elevated knee with the car door still open and both standing outside.

Officer Abdur Rehman: Yes, I will because you have a pistol. This is why I stopped you.

Khurram: It is licensed.

Officer Abdur Rehman: You have a pistol.

At this point, someone else tells Khurram to sit in the door and he responds that he wouldn’t while Abdul Rehman also asks him to sit in the car.

He then takes out something from one of pockets in the car door, saying it was the license.

The officer continues to insist that he sit in the car.

Khurram: Please step out for a minute.

Officer Abdur Rehman: Why should I come out? We are going to the police station.

Khurram then walks around to the other side while holding the camera in one hand and the pistol, pointed at the ground, in the other.

Officer Abdur Rehman: Look! His weapon has a bullet in the chamber. Look at this badmaash (hooligan).

Khurram: I didn’t stop the car here without a reason.

Officer Abdur Rehman: This guy is a badmaash. I stopped your car because you have a pistol.

At this point, Khurram and the officer are at an arm’s length on the passenger side.

Khurram: Did you stop my car?

Officer Abdur Rehman: Yes.

Khurram: You opened my car door forcefully, badmaashi sey… As if you were trying to rob me.

Officer Abdur Rehman: Aap nay meray par garri challayee (You tried to drive away)

Khurram: Did you angrily open the door?

Officer Abdur Rehman: I opened it because you have a pistol.

Khurram: But it is licensed.

Officer Abdur Rehman: But I became suspicious.

Khurram: So did I.

Officer Abdur Rehman: What kind of suspicion? Don’t you see the uniform? Are you blind?

Khurram: Can’t I become suspicious?

Officer Abdur Rehman: What kind of suspicion? Call the mobile. [Again, speaking to someone else, most likely the other cop who is partially visible in the video.]

Khurram: Yes, call it.

By this time, Khurram had walked to the side of the driver seat while the exchange continued.

Officer Abdur Rehman: Why don’t you shoot me? I am not afraid. I will become a martyr.

Khurram: No, man, no. You might also shoot me.

Officer Abdur Rehman: Shoot me and I will become a shaheed (martyr).

Khurram: I will also become shaheed (martyr.)

Officer Abdur Rehman: You won’t be a shaheed (martyr). You will be murdar (lifeless/dead).

After this, both get back into the vehicle with Khurram and the officer both saying they go to the police station.

A little while later, the two people both step out of the vehicle. Another exchange takes place resulting in a standoff.

Khurram fires first with the bullet hitting the officer in the head. The officer manages to fire back but Khurram is unhurt. He then gets back into the vehicle and speeds away.

This is, however, only the part of one conversation that was recorded. A second video was recorded by the other policeman. There is CCTV footage as well. And a video shot by Khurram as well. There were bystanders and a few more might surface if there is an investigation. We do not know what conversation took place inside the vehicle or leading up to the point where they both stepped out of the car again with tragic consequences.

Investigation bungle

If you think incompetence led to the shootout resulting in a policeman’s death, you will be amazed by what followed - including Khurram’s escape from the country.

But first on this police stop and conversation that followed:

• The policeman’s attempt to defuse the situation were questionable. At certain points, it seems like provocation and goading the suspect with comments like “shoot me”. This was despite the man being visibly drunk and armed.
• The suspect’s vehicle had tints on windows, which is not permitted without special permission. The police report says he had abducted a woman who escaped during the stop. During the conversation between the cop and his killer, neither the woman nor the tints on the mirrors are mentioned.
• The cop repeatedly claims the stop was due to the gun. Was he able to spot the gun from outside despite the tint on the windows or it surfaced during the drive which is when he found out about it?
• At several points, the suspect asks specific questions including the police station that he was being taken to. The responses are dismissive or disingenuous while the cop maintains a provocative stance.
• At no point do the cops identify themselves or give their badge numbers. They claim police uniform and vehicle as proof.
• Failure to call back up. At several points the slain cop tells his partner to call the mobile.
• Failure to disarm suspect. On multiple occasions, the suspect comes close enough to the cop, including during the course of the video, where he is outnumbered two to one. The cops fail to action.
• Despite repeated offers, the cop failed to review the license of the firearm or the credentials offered by the suspect.
• The SOP for cops after making a stop is to do a physical search for the person in question and then a search of the vehicle. Why was the weapon not seized during this search - if that search took place. According to the complaint, the cop sat in the vehicle of the suspect.
• Most important: What was his partner, the eye witness, doing in all of this? The CCTV footage of the shooting doesn’t show the other constable or the motorcycle. Where was he? The police report says he witnessed the incident. How far behind was he? I came across another video which was made from the front. I thought it was made by the other policeman. If someone finds it, please share.

All these points are no in any way a defense of what Khurram did. He seemed under the influence. He was armed and had his finger on the trigger. People who carry firearms tend to be. He tried to use his father’s name to influence the policemen. He was aggressive, belligerent and non-cooperative. On multiple occasions, he waved the gun with the bullet in the chamber - hence a hair-trigger away from taking a life. And he took a life. Of an on-duty cop. In uniform. Whether it was intentional or incidental is for the courts to decide.

But to get there, you need the accused in custody. For now, that is not possible with Khurram Nasir flying out of Pakistan within hours of shooting Abdul Rehman. How did that happen?

Who dropped the ball

The next day, the police raided the suspect’s house and interviewed his father, a wheelchair-bound former district commissioner. They also found the vehicle, the Mark-X, and claimed to recover a weapon from his house, which has been sent for a forensic audit.

But long before that happened, Khurram was outside Pakistan’s territory.

During the day, it emerged that he was at the airport at 3:30am.

Khurram, who is a Swedish national and lives there with his wife and two children, used his Swedish passport to waltz through immigration and was cleared at 4:11am.

He was able to book a ticket and get on the plane, TK-709 to Istanbul, which was delayed by an hour and left at 7:18am Tuesday morning.

District South Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asad Raza told Aaj News that the particulars of the suspect were shared with the relevant department at 3:43am, and not 4:30am. This clarification is for the cut-off time of 4:11am at which the suspect was cleared by immigration. There is likely to be another round of claims and counter-claims between the two law-enforcement departs, the FIA and the police. Whether the FIA dropped the ball or the police did, the suspect is now in the wind. Even if it was a lapse of judgment - and not collusion - that allowed the suspect to escape, someone ought to be held to account. The smart money is on that not happening.

Since the escape, the police have arrested two people - the shooter’s brother-in-law and driver - for abetment.

A video of the brother-in-law is already on social media, where he describes how he got a call from Khurram about having been in a fight. Quick reminder that the video of the man who shot Imran Khan was also ‘leaked’ which resulted in the Punjab chief minister ordering the suspension of all policemen of the police station in question. But that is an issue for another time.

The video in question has multiple cuts and hence cannot be relied on for veracity of context. What can be gleaned from it is that Khurram contacted his brother-in-law later that night and told him about his plans to immediately leave the country. He wasn’t clear on the why but asked him to get a ticket.

“I thought it might be some minor fight. He has enmities as well so I wondered that it might be that,” he says in the video.

At some point, Khurram made a stopover at his home to exchange cars. It was during this exchange that he probably asked his driver to either drive him to the airport or go with him.

His brother-in-law, in the video, says that Khurram contacted him again later and told him that he was at a petrol pump. He informed Khurram that he was unable to get the ticket, after which he also headed to the airport.

The police says they have contacted Interpol, the Lyon-headquarter international organisation that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime control. Pakistan would seek Khurram’s arrest through Interpol and transfer to Pakistan.

This is the only route as Pakistan does not have an extradition treaty with Sweden. It also merits mention that Sweden’s laws do not allow extradition of its citizens outside EU states.

The investigation so far has not inspired confidence. Comments like the shooter, Khurram, has a questionable record in Pakistan and Sweden, without providing details of the cases, makes it worse. The brother-in-law, in his video statement, had suggested it and you added Sweden to it. Tell us you spoke to authorities in his hometown. The local police station shared such and such reports against him and initiated following cases. Tell us that and not tickers circulated on WhatsApp.

Of families & lives

Khurram will have to live with what he did. But he gets to return to his family - at least for now.

Abdul Rehman’s family is not so fortunate. They were preparing for his wedding, which was weeks away. Relatives had arrived in Karachi from villages and small towns in anticipation of the festive affair.

They are in mourning now, hoping that the man who fired the bullet that killed him will be brought to justice.

But with Khurram probably in Sweden by now, how likely is that?

More than just a family, what message does it send to other cops out on the street. And the millions who go to police stations across the country daily with their problems.

If the police cannot stop from escaping those who killed one of their own - to say nothing of bringing them to justice - what does it mean for the rest of us?