Police excesses

Amid protests, another abuse of power case emerges in Haripur

On Friday, protests against police excesses erupted in Khyber-Paktunkhwa capital Peshawar and many other places of the province. Protests started after reports of police torture on an Afghan national named Rafiullah spread like wildfire. According to reports, first the police stripped the man, paraded him naked and then tortured him for abusing officers in a video. Rafiullah is a resident of Tehikal area of Peshawar, where protests began and soon spread to other parts of the province. Clashes between the police and protesters occurred at several places. A clash with the police near the provincial assembly building left scores of protesters and some policemen injured. The police had to resort to cane charge and shelling to disperse the enraged protesters. Leaders of the Awami National Party and the Jamaat-e-Islamic also participated in protests. People took to the streets to protest against police excesses in Charsadda, Swabi, Mardan, Bajaur, Malakand, Lower Dir and Upper Dir and Swat besides other places.

The Adviser to the K-P chief minister on Information, Ajmal Wazir, has announced that a judicial inquiry will be ordered into the case. He informed the media that the four police personnel, including an SHO, involved in the case, had been suspended and booked, and the SSP (Operation) had been removed from his post. He urged the public not to malign the entire police force for the deeds of a few black sheep. As protests against the police were being held across the province, another case of abuse of power by the police has emerged from Haripur. A police officer reportedly beat up a clerk at a filling station for refusing service to his son. The officer’s son had gone to a gas station to get fuel for his motorcycle. Since he was not wearing a mask and helmet, the duty clerk refused to serve him. Later, an additional SHO and other cops arrived at the petrol station and beat up the duty clerk. The officer has been suspended and an inquiry into the incident has been launched. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2020.

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