Kharotabad incident: Driver tells tribunal he was ‘pressured’
Police surgeon tells tribunal the baby died after his mother received 11 bullets.
QUETTA:
Reiterating remarks made to journalists a day earlier, a key witness of the Kharotabad firing incident in which five foreigners were killed by security forces, told the judicial tribunal on Monday that he was pressured by police officials to issue a false statement.
When Justice Hashim Kakar asked him why he had lied earlier and changed his statement thrice, the driver said he was in police custody and was pressured by SHO Airport Police Fazalur Rehman and Sub-Inspector Raza Khan.
“The police officials told me to tell the tribunal and local magistrate that I heard one of the foreigners saying Allah-o-Akbar and saw them carrying a hand grenade so they (police officials) could get promoted. However, I did not see any hand grenades, nor did I hear them say Allah-o-Akbar,” he said.
In his latest statement, the driver said the police first detained five foreigners for almost an hour during which they searched the two men and their belongings.
Police surgeon Baqar Shah, who conducted the autopsies, said they were fired at from a distance of 50-60 feet. One of the deceased was seven months pregnant and her baby died due to lack of oxygen after the mother received 11 bullets, the surgeon added
Inquiry report
An inquiry report of the Balochistan FC reveals that the five Chechens did not open fire on the security personnel.
The report also says that the FC personnel acted against the foreigners on the basis of information received from police. Inspector General FC Major General Obaidullah Khattak presented the report to the National Assembly’s Parliamentary Committee on the Kharotabad killings.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2011.
Reiterating remarks made to journalists a day earlier, a key witness of the Kharotabad firing incident in which five foreigners were killed by security forces, told the judicial tribunal on Monday that he was pressured by police officials to issue a false statement.
When Justice Hashim Kakar asked him why he had lied earlier and changed his statement thrice, the driver said he was in police custody and was pressured by SHO Airport Police Fazalur Rehman and Sub-Inspector Raza Khan.
“The police officials told me to tell the tribunal and local magistrate that I heard one of the foreigners saying Allah-o-Akbar and saw them carrying a hand grenade so they (police officials) could get promoted. However, I did not see any hand grenades, nor did I hear them say Allah-o-Akbar,” he said.
In his latest statement, the driver said the police first detained five foreigners for almost an hour during which they searched the two men and their belongings.
Police surgeon Baqar Shah, who conducted the autopsies, said they were fired at from a distance of 50-60 feet. One of the deceased was seven months pregnant and her baby died due to lack of oxygen after the mother received 11 bullets, the surgeon added
Inquiry report
An inquiry report of the Balochistan FC reveals that the five Chechens did not open fire on the security personnel.
The report also says that the FC personnel acted against the foreigners on the basis of information received from police. Inspector General FC Major General Obaidullah Khattak presented the report to the National Assembly’s Parliamentary Committee on the Kharotabad killings.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2011.