Saqiba suicide FIR filed on court directives

QUETTA: In compliance with the Balochistan High Court’s directives, the police registered on Thursday a first information report (FIR) in the suicidal death of an Intermediate student, Saqiba Hakeem.

The 17-year-old student had committed suicide on February 12 after the principal of the Government Girls Degree College in Muslim Bagh refused to send her Intermediate examination forms. Apparently Saqiba had been suspended for leading a protest in Quetta last year, when she demanded better education facilities at her college.

Taking up the constitutional petition of Saqiba’s case on Thursday, Justice Shakeel Baloch had directed police to immediately lodge the FIR and share a copy of the report with the court on Friday (today).

According to Muslim Bagh police station’s SHO Abdul Kareem Mandokhel, the FIR is registered on behalf of Saqiba’s brother against the college principal Abdida Ghous and a clerk Mehmood under the Pakistan Act of 322/34.

Earlier, Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani, Education Secretary Abdul Saboor Kakar, Qilla Saifullah’s deputy commissioner, additional inspector general (AIG) police and the girls college principal Abida Ghous appeared before the court.

The AIG told the court that Saqiba’s suicide was reported 26 hours after her death. He assured the court that the FIR would be lodged on priority. The court ordered the police to probe the case impartially without succumbing to pressure from any political force. Justice Baloch also asked the home secretary to constitute a judicial commission to probe Saqiba’s suicide. Durrani assured the court that the judicial commission would be formed by Tuesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2016.