Family of slain brothers move court for FIR

District court issues notices to Rawalpindi police officials to file replies by March 9

RAWALPINDI: The family of two brothers who were killed in an alleged encounter approached the district and sessions court on Tuesday over registering an FIR against police.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Gulfaraz Ahmed Khalid subsequently directed Rawalpindi city police officer (CPO), Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) for Saddar, and Saddar Berooni SHO to file their written replies by March 9.



Balqees Akhtar, the widowed mother of the two men, had filed a petition through advocate Malik Sajid Awan, under section 22-A of Criminal Procedure Code, accusing DSP Cantonment Raja Taifur, SHO RA Bazaar Malik Sajid, Sadar Berooni Additional SHO Tariq Gondal and 10 to 15 unidentified policemen for forcibly taking away 35-year-old Waseem Anwarul Haq and 38-year-old Muhammad Irfan from their house and later killing them.

Urging the court to register a murder case against the police officials, Akhtar claimed that at on the evening of February 22, policemen came to her Quaidi-Azam Colony house, near Dhamial Army Aviation Base. They asked for her son Abdul Manan, who was wanted for stealing motorbikes. The policemen – who were not in uniform – forced their way into her house and started beating Waseem and Irfan before taking them away.



Later, her four other sons; Nadeem, Naeem, Qasim, and Hafiz Aftab, called Rescue 15 to report the incident. Soon after officials from the Sadar Berooni police came and whisked them away as well.

When her sons did not return at night, she went to Sadar Berooni police station where Saddar DSP Saleem Khattak told her that Irfan and Waseem had been killed in an encounter.

Alleging the police of killing her sons in a fake encounter, she wrote in her plea that written complaints to Saddar Berooni SHO and the CPO for registering murder cases had got no response either.