Family awaits judicial probe into killing of brothers encounter

Brothers were killed by RA Bazaar police in their house in the jurisdiction of Saddar Berooni police, on February 22

RAWALPINDI: The family of two brothers shot dead by RA Bazaar Police some six months ago in an alleged encounter is still waiting for start of a judicial probe into the killings, it has been learnt.

Bilqis Akhtar, the widowed mother of 30-year-old Muhammad Irfan and 29-year-old Waseem Anwar-ul Haq, has been waiting for a response from office of the chief justice of Lahore High Court for ordering a judicial probe in killings of her young sons.



The brothers were killed by R A Bazaar Police in their house at Quaid-i-Azam Colony, in the jurisdiction of Saddar Berooni police, on February 22 as police raided the house to arrest Abdul Manan, brother of the deceased men, wanted in a motorbike theft case.

Nadeem Anwarul Haq, another brother of the deceased, informed The Express Tribune that the family had desperately been waiting for the judicial probe as the city police had also asked the judiciary for a neutral inquiry.



He said that mother, widows and children of Irfan and Waseem were becoming pessimistic about getting justice. he said that in March, his mother filed a petition before the LHC’s Rawalpindi bench for registration of a murder case against the R A Bazaar police. During the hearing, a lawyer representing the police informed the court that request from the law enforcers had already been submitted with the Chief Justice for a judicial probe.

Nadeem said that after a wait of about six months when they visited the high court in Lahore, they were apprised that their file had been lost and they would have to file a fresh application.

About the case registered against five brothers of the deceased for encountering the raiding police party, Nadeem said that the investigators had done nothing as they also had been waiting for start of the judicial probe.



In her application to the chief justice LHC, Bilqis Akhtar had alleged that on the night of February 22, the police party raided her house and asked for Abdul Manan. She said that when she told them that he was not at home and she had no contact with him because of his disobedient attitude the police forcibly entered the house.

She had further alleged that the police took away Irfan, employee of Zarai Taraqiati Bank (ZTB) in Islamabad and Wasim, a driver in COMSAT university, and later shot them dead at an unknown place.

However, the RA Bazaar police presented a completely different version of the incident claiming that when they raided the house, the women with Abdul Manan put up resistance. Manan opened fire on the police party from the rooftop resulting in head injuries to constable Shahzeb and a bullet wound to SHO Malik Sajjid on his left leg. When the police retaliated, the two brothers were shot and injured and they later died at DHQ.

Later, a high level police inquiry held the R A Bazaar police responsible for bad planning and strategy while raiding the house. Six police officials were suspended from the force.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2017.