JIT formed to probe gruesome Hazara Town lynching

Team will submit report in 15 days to ATC

QUETTA: Balochistan government has constituted a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the incident of brutal lynching of a young man in Quetta’s Hazara Town, according to a notification issued by the provincial Home and Tribal Affairs on Sunday.

Dozens of enraged people beat Bilal Khan to death in the Aliabad area of Hazara Town on Friday after a dispute over making a cell phone video. Bilal’s friends – Nayaz and Khalil – were also seriously injured and were later rescued by the police.

According to the notification, the team will submit its report within 15 working days under section 173 of code directly to the Anti-Terrorism Court.

The JIT will be headed by Quetta Investigation SSP Asad Nassar who will also act as the JIT convener. Other members of the team included representative of Quetta ISI, representative of Quetta Military Agency, representative of Intelligence Bureau, representative of Quetta Special Branch, representative of Quetta Counter Terrorism Department and Investigation Officers concerned.

The JIT was constituted under section 19(1) of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

The investigations of the event would be conducted as per FIR No 102/2020 under Sections 302,324,147 and 149 of Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of ATA reported in police station of Brewery Quetta.

For the purpose of investigation of terrorism financing in the incident, it was directed that the Federal Investigation Agency, Financial Monitoring Unit, Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and State Bank of Pakistan may assist the JIT.

The gruesome incident was filmed on mobile phones and the footage was shared on social media, whipping up a storm of fear, anger and outrage.

The incident also triggered tension in Quetta and a large number of people gathered demanding arrest of the culprits. Later, the police arrested 11 suspects on the basis of the footage.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2020.