Indian general’s court martial: ‘Pakistan should follow India’s lead’

CJP says that it is high time big guns faced the music in Daska fake encounter case.


Azam Khan January 29, 2011

ISLAMABAD: Taking note of the misuse of power by government officials, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, taking a cue from the court martial of a serving general in India, said on Friday that those responsible will be brought to book.

“Why don’t a few top guns in our country get booked for their wrongdoings,” the chief justice asked during hearing the case of an alleged fake encounter by the police in Daska one year ago. “It’s high time that some heads roll,” he said.

The fake encounter, in which a boy was gunned down, was followed by the suspension of some low ranking officials. The police later mentioned in an inquiry report that a compromise was made with heirs of the deceased. The court, however, rejected the report and observed that the responsible top officials were left untouched.

The CJP was heading a four member bench that was hearing case against police officials including former Regional Police Officer Gujranwala Zulfiqar Cheema and DPO Sialkot Ameen Awais. According to the police inquiry report, 16 low ranking police officials were sacked in connection with the fake encounter case.

These include four inspectors, five sub-inspectors, one assistant sub-inspector and five constables. An inspector was also forced to retire. The court in its order directed the Inspector General Police (IGP) to take personal interest in the matter, instead of saving the skin of “petti bhais”.

Citing the example of the Indian Lt General who was court-martialled, the chief justice urged Pakistan to follow this precedent.

Top officials have privately acknowledged that they are scared of such kinds of accountability because the snowball effect of the court martial is already being sensed in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday blamed this sort of police culture for target killings in the country. “Your decision to kill someone with rifles invokes people to keep this practice in the streets due to which lawlessness has increased since 1966 when such kind of police encounters started,” he observed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29th,  2011.

COMMENTS (77)

Dr+Dev+Mishra | 13 years ago | Reply @ Aftab, no India never brutalised any European or Arab land. In fact, from 200 BC to 800 AD, India had commercial trade with China and also attracted Chinese students into its famous universities like Takshila and Nalanda ( I think the former is in Pakistan now). Hindu mathematicians were at their peak then with Aryabhata having stated in 490 AD that the earth is round and revolves around the sun- a few hundred years before Copernicus and Galileo !! India also had trade with Arabs in the first millenium and allowed some to settle down in Kerala and establish mosques. The same applies to Syrian christians, whose churches in Kerala go back 1500 years. Not sure about the number of wives allowed per king, but certainly there was no limit of one. Much like the mughals, sometimes marriages were arranged because of political alliances eg, the descendants of Ashok married some of the Greek princesses in the wake of Alexander's foray into India.
Aftab Kenneth Wilson | 13 years ago | Reply @Balwandir Sandhu. Thanks for providing so much valuable information. So this also means they never entered any Arab or European country to brutalize or establish their version of knowing God or life after death whether it comes by killing others or through good deeds, good. I think Emperor Halaku Khan and Emperor Constantine were best to destroy the powers of tyranny. There is also written in the history that some Rulers had more than 300 wives, concubines and kids to satisfy their lust, is it true and who were they? Though Christians and Muslims, according to their Holy Books do say to spread their message to others but I fail to understand that why most used forceful tactics to bring others in their folds? What prevents us to work for "Humanity" and love for others as we love ourselves???????. This last question is for all who know the value of co-existence and Peace within and out.
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