A serial killer on the loose in Karachi has stirred panic in the city.
During the past week, there have been several reported cases of women getting stabbed in Gulistan e Johar in Karachi
Up till now around eight such cases have been reported from areas of Rabia City and Johar Chowrangi. The victims were attacked from behind with a sharp object late at night by an unknown man on a motorcycle wearing a helmet.
Nothing was reported missing from the personal belongings of victims.
The brother of a victim said that his sister and mother were taking a walk late at night when the attack happened. When he saw his sister bleeding, he rushed her to the nearest hospital for treatment.
One victim who survived the attack says that she took a rickshaw to her house with a severed leg
However in a twisted turn of events when the police reached her house to investigate the matter they arrested her father. Her father Abdul Rasheed claimed that he was detained overnight and was asked for a bribe by the officials.
At present, the Police has no concrete leads on the identity of the killer and has announced a Rs 0.5 million bounty on him
CCTV footage of one such incident has been released by DIG East Sultan Khawaja wherein the attacker is stabbing one of the victims. According to the Police the attacker wears a black shirt and jeans and is in between the age of 25 to 30.
Given the nature of these incidents, the area police have advised all women to remain careful when walking on the streets. Female students have also been advised to avoid walking on these streets altogether.
Naturally, these horrifying incidents have struck fear in the hearts of people
The news coming in from Gulistan e Johar is very alarming. Immediate action by the LEAs should b taken against the dagger group atckng women
— Saman Jafriسمن جعفری (@SsamanJay) September 28, 2017
Girls living in Gulistan-e-Johar, Khi be careful while going out at night, some sick people are on the streets stabbing girls for no reason.
— Naveer.ai (@NaveerBinRazi) September 27, 2017
Women and girls residing in Gulistan-e-Johar please be careful. Go out when absolutely necessary. #Karachi
— H. ???? (@hitbyreality) September 30, 2017
Chaqoo group stabbed 3 girls in Gulistan-e-Johar, Karachi yesterday. What new nonsense and nuisance at the same time.
— Razavi (@Leftywordsmith) September 28, 2017
This is not the first time that Karachi has been terrorized by serial killers with a sinister agenda
Back in the 1980’s, there were several reports of a gang conducting mass killings without a set agenda. The victims were mainly homeless people on the streets with their bodies showing signs of a blunt object. The attackers were known to wear black masks and were dubbed as the Hathora group by various media outlets.
There were several myths associated with the apparent agenda of the gang. Some believed that they were KGB agents trying to spread terror. While others were of the opinion that they were working for the establishment which at the time was the Zia regime. There was even an article on them belonging to a cult of Satanists that consisted of the city’s elite and were involved in various deviant activities.
Then there was also the Chadda Group aka Chawala Group
Also around the same time as the Hathora group, this mainly included seemingly agile men that broke into houses and beat up the residents. They were reported to have been dressed in nothing but boxers and had slathered themselves in oil. Legend has it that they broke in, assaulted the residents, create havoc and make their escape in a speedy fashion.
It was Javed Iqbal however who was the most notorious of them all
Javed Iqbal in 1999 was convicted by the courts for the murder and sexual abuse of around 100 children. Javed in a letter sent to both the Police and the Chief news editor of a Lahore based newspaper had confessed to the crime. His victims consisted of children in between the ages of 6 and 16 that were mainly runaways and orphans living on the streets of Lahore. Javed was given a death sentence with the judge stating “You will be strangled to death in front of the parents whose children you killed, Your body will then be cut into 100 pieces and put in acid, the same way you killed the children.” Javed Iqbal died was found dead inside his jail cell in 2001 before the death sentence was carried out.
If you know about more such incidents in the country, please let us know in the comments.