FAISALABAD:
A three-member inquiry team on Monday reached Kamalia on a week-long visit to gather evidence into the killings of three people during a demonstration against power outages on June 19.
The team, consisting of Additional Inspector General (Investigation) Abubakr Khuda Bux; SSP (Investigation) Zahid Sherazi and DSP (Investigation) Liaqat Ali, visited the site of the killings near MNA Riaz Ahmed Fatiyana’s house to collect evidence. It later went to the Toba Tek Singh Police Lines to record statements of people who claimed to have witnessed the riots on June 19.
The inquiry into the riots has been launched by the Inspector General of Punjab Police on request of the MNA who is one of the 13 people nominated in the murder case.
MNA Fatiyana had accused the Toba Tek Singh police wrongly implicating him in the killings.
He said the police were colluding with his political opponent who was a member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, ruling party in the province.
Talking to the media, Fatiyana denied that any of his guards had opened fire at the people protesting in front of his house against power outages.
He said the bullets fired by some masked men in the crowd had led to the killing of the three protesters, including a child, Ramish Ali, 14. He alleged that these assailants were sent by the police to incite violence.
“The three people had bullet injuries on their backs. My guards were facing them,” he said.
He said the provincial government had masterminded the riots to damage his reputation in the area so that they could defeat him in the next general elections.
The protesters had later broken into the dera of the MNA, set it on fire and vandalised furniture in his office. They had also burnt a number of motorcycles and damaged public property during the riots.
Kamalia City police briefly detained the MNA following the riots.
He was released 12 hours later so that he could attend a National Assembly session in Islamabad.
His 12 security guards are still held at the police station on a physical remand. The FIR mentioned Sections 324, 302, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Besides the three killings, more than 83 people including Toba Tek Singh District Police Officer Ahsan Younus, Kamalia DSP Akbar Ali and a private television channel’s cameraman were injured in the riots.
Kamalia Saddar police had registered a case on charge of rioting and damaging public property against 200 people, of whom 17 were identified. No arrests have yet been made in the case.
Police said they had delayed investigations in the matter on learning about the visit of the three-member inquiry team.
“They will investigate the case on their own now,” said a Kamalia Saddar police official.
Published In The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2012.
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