Karachi, Jun 9: An unarmed Pakistani teenager was shot dead at point blank range in a posh area here by paramilitary rangers, an incident caught on camera and beamed on television, triggering an outcry among the public forcing the government to arrest five securitymen and order a judicial inquiry.
The heart-rending video of 18-year-old Sarfaraz Shah, brother of a local journalist, pleading for mercy from the rangers was aired repeatedly today by TV channels, sparking a fresh controversy after the recent killing of five unarmed Chechens at check-point in Balochistan.
A Rangers spokesman claimed that his men had detained Shah yesterday because he was attempting to rob people in the Benazir Bhutto Park. He also claimed that a gun had been recovered from Shah and he was shot while he reaching out for the rifle of a ranger.
However, the footage, apparently shot by a passerby yesterday, contradicted the Rangers claim.
The video clearly showed that Shah was unarmed when he was shot. He was grabbed by the hair and roughed up by a man clad in a white shirt who had a pistol in his hand.
Shah is then seen pleading for mercy with folded hands. He approaches the trooper with the rifle and appears to be asking him to lower the weapon when another trooper pulls them apart.
The trooper with a G3 rifle then fires two shots at Shah, who shouts out in pain and crumples to the ground as the bullets hit him in the stomach.
One trooper, who appears to be older than the others, turns his face away in shock following the shooting. PTI
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