SSP Junejo attack: ‘Include Imran, Qadri estate details from 3 cities’

Former investigation officer tells court he sought JIT over incident, but request was denied

ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday directed the police to provide details of properties belonging to two proclaimed offenders, Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri, located in three cities in a case pertaining to an attack on a former SSP.

ATC Judge Shahrukh Arjumand, while granting officials time till August 24, directed the police to submit details of the properties of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Chief Dr Tahirul Qadri in Islamabad, Lahore and Mianwali.

Terming them as key witnesses, the ATC judge noted that police have not included in their list of witnesses doctors who had provided treatment to the then Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Operations Asmatullah Junejo after he was assaulted.

Meanwhile, a former police investigation officer in the case, Ghulam Murtaza, recorded his statement before the judge.

Murtaza told the court that while investigating the case, he had requested to form a joint investigation team, but the request was not granted.

Moreover, he said that he had written to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority chairman, seeking video footage of the incident to identify the suspects involved in the attack. A CD of footage provided by the regulator, however, was not very helpful since the faces of the suspects could not be properly identified, Murtaza said.

He was later transferred and the investigation was handed over to someone else, he said.

After recording the police officer’s statement, the court issued the summons for other witnesses and adjourned the case till August 24.

On the last hearing of the case, the ATC had directed the police to submit details of the properties of Imran and Qadri so that the process for the attaching their properties could be initiated.

The court had directed the chief of Secretariat police station to submit details of properties of the two suspects so that proceedings under section 88 (attachment of property of person absconding) of the Criminal Procedure Code could be initiated against the suspects.

The ATC sought property details of the suspects in connection with their alleged involvement in the attack on SSP Junejo during the 2014 sit-ins in the capital.

Earlier, the court had also issued the summons for SSP Junejo and three other witnesses to record their statements in the case on July 20.

When the case was taken up on Thursday, police told the court that SSP Junejo was currently out of the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2017.