Police Performance: 6 killed in 2 ‘police encounters’

An inquiry reveals that both armed exchanges were staged by the police.

FAISALABAD:

A judicial inquiry revealed two police encounters that took place in Faisalabad’s Jhang bazaar to have been staged. On October 26 and December 5, Jhang bazaar police killed 6 youths in two separate encounters.

A recent inquiry into the events revealed that both armed exchanges were staged by the police. Two brothers Zaki Butt and Arif Butt and their three relatives Ali Nawaz, Hamid and Shakeel were killed during the first encounter and Zakariya Butt was killed during the second. Judicial magistrate Shehzad Aslam wrote in his inquiry report that both encounters were staged. “The police is running a ‘parallel court on the roads’ and issuing its own verdicts,” he said. In the inquiry, SP Lyalpur town Rai Zameerul Huq, DSP Khurram Shehzad, sub inspector Farrukh Waheed, Inspector Yasir Jutt, ASI Zahid Haleem, Inspector Malik Tariq were held responsible for the incidents. The judicial magistrate wrote that the police should be removed from office.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2011.