Family of man killed in encounter hold demo

FAISALABAD:

Scores of Bhaiwala residents on Tuesday staged a protest demonstration against the alleged killing of a man in a staged police encounter in Millat Town area.

The protesters gathered at Zila Council Chowk and later staged a sit-in before the City District Government Secretariat. Zubeida Bibi, the mother of the slain Asif Hussain alias Ghum, said her son had been gunned down by Millat Town police near a police post in Bhaiwala. She said Hussain was innocent and had been killed in a staged encounter.

Sharafat Hussain, the brother of the deceased, said one ASI Muhammad Afzal had a longstanding enmity with his family. He said he and his accomplices had killed Hussain in this regard. Sharafat said he had earlier threatened his mother by telling her that he would kill her sons in a police encounter. He said the police official was intoxicated when his brother was killed. Sharafat said he had told the deceased’s family that he would only handover his body if they promised to desist from initiating legal proceedings against the ASI. “The prime minister and the chief minister should take notice of my brother’s killing,” he said.

Sharafat said that all members of the family would immolate themselves before the office of the CCPO if they were denied justice.

The protesters dispersed after a police official managed to placate them.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th,  2016.