Hazara leaders reject judicial inquiry report

ABBOTABAD: A team of legal advisers which assisted the one-member judicial commission that investigated the April 12 rioting in Abbottabad has pointed out legal flaws in the commission’s report released earlier this week.

The team demanded the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government provide a copy of the commission’s report to leaders of the Sooba Hazara Tehreek, or Movement for Hazara Province, so that it could be examined.

Speaking to journalists in Abbottabad, Mushtaq Tahirkheli, a seasoned lawyer and the head of the legal team, accused the judicial commission of serving the interests of the ANP-led government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The report was released by the provincial government on Friday. It described the April 12 incidents as “cross-firing between police and protesters” but failed to fix responsibility.

Tahirkheli alleged that the commission’s head Justice Abdul Hakim Kundi of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) remained an active member of the ruling ANP in the past.

Rejecting the commission’s findings, he said it failed to fix responsibility for the riots despite recording statements of 125 witnesses and watching footage of riots. Tahirkheli said he would file a writ petition against the report in the Peshawar High Court (PHC).

The Movement for Hazara Province has also rejected the report, calling it a “futile exercise” by the provincial government. Its chief Sardar Haider Zaman said on Sunday that the report showed that the commission failed to fulfil its constitutional and moral obligations.

He was speaking at a news conference at the Abbottabad press club, where other leaders of the movement, including Gohar Ayub Khan, Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob and Shezada Gustasab Khan were also present. Zaman claimed that eight people were killed and 200 injured when police opened fire on people protesting against the NWFP renaming in Abbottabad but the commission has exonerated police officials.

He demanded that police officers directly involved in the incident should be taken to task.  He renewed his pledge to continue his struggle for a separate Hazara province.

Qazi Azhar Advocate, Chairman of Hazara Qaumi Mahaz, also rejected the report, saying that it has shaken the confidence of the Hazara people in the ANP-led provincial government.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2010.