PTI activist died in ‘road mishap': Punjab IGP

Party snubs his claim; says post-mortem report shows Ali Bilal was tortured

LAHORE:

The Punjab police chief on Saturday rejected the PTI’s claim that the provincial administration was responsible for the alleged murder of its activist Ali Bilal, saying his death was caused by a “road accident” and “unfortunately misinterpreted”.

The PTI had alleged that Ali Bilal alias Zillay Shah, died of police violence and torture after their personnel launched a crackdown on its activists and supporters staging a rally near party chief Imran Khan’s Zaman Town residence on Wednesday to kick off its election campaign.

A day earlier, the police said they had rounded up two men, identified as Umar and Jahanzeb, who claimed that Bilal suffered several injuries following an accident with their car.

However, the PTI leadership insisted that the activist was “murdered” in police custody.

Even the post-mortem examination of the body revealed that Bilal died because of a massive blunt trauma to his body that caused a skull fracture and intracranial haemorrhaging.

The autopsy report added that the PTI activist had suffered 26 injuries to his body.

During a news conference with Punjab Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi, IGP Dr Usman Anwar said that the evidence -- CCTV footage -- “clearly” showed the case was that of a “road accident”.

He added that no person had deliberately tried to murder Bilal.

The top provincial cop claimed the PTI activist's body was brought to Services Hospital in a black Vigo on Wednesday evening.

He further maintained that the suspects looked “tense” in the CCTV footage.

The police chief added that the two men even tried to “save the victim at one point and take him to the hospital” and that the interpretation of the incident was rather “misfortunate”.

He continued that the people in the vehicle were not criminals and they tried to save Bilal after the “accident”, however, false videos were making rounds on social media to negatively portray the police and government.

Anwar said the car involved in the accident was traced through 31 CCTV cameras.

The senior police official identified the owner of the vehicle that hit Bilal as PTI Central Punjab President Raja Shakeel.

Speaking on the occasion, Caretaker CM Naqvi maintained that his administration was not involved in the incident.

He added that the PTI should refrain from levelling “baseless allegations”.

He called out the PTI leadership for blaming the caretaker government for Bilal’s death, saying that he would not give in to pressure from “curses and tweets”.

Naqvi categorically denied claims of instructing the Punjab police to act against the PTI activists.

He added that the Punjab IGP would personally visit Bilal’s father and the Punjab government would provide financial assistance to the victim’s heirs.

“They [the PTI] did a great injustice to me and the police. This shouldn’t have occurred,” he said.

The caretaker chief minister commended the police for their investigative efforts.

Naqvi said he would have addressed the allegations differently if he was not in the coveted position and that it was his “responsibility to bear such attacks with restrain”.

However, he added that the PTI’s move to file an FIR with murder charges on the basis of assumptions was “too much”.

“I will not surrender. I would prefer going home but will not give up,” the caretaker chief minister said.

Naqvi deplored PTI leader and former provincial health minister Yasmin Rashid’s news conference wherein she had targeted the police and administration for Bilal’s death despite knowing the “facts of the event”.

“Those who were in the car told her everything, however, the PTI kept blaming the provincial administration,” he said.

The caretaker chief minister also alleged that Bilal’s father was offered money to back the faux narrative behind his death.

Discussing an audio clip making rounds on social media, he said it did not need verification as its validity was questionable.

He objected to the PTI’s decision to hold a rally on the day when the Aurat March and other gatherings were happening in Lahore.

Naqvi said elections in Punjab were scheduled to be held soon and any security issue would adversely affect peace in the province.

In response to the news conference, PTI chief Imran censured Naqvi for allegedly creating a false narrative.

He continued to claim that Bilal had died of custodial torture.

Referring to the IGP and caretaker chief minister, Imran Khan tweeted: “In any civilised country, these two shameless people would have been jailed not just for lying so blatantly but for insulting the intelligence of our nation [as well].”

He added that this was what happened when the country was taken over by “dangerous duffers” who believed everyone was as “dumb” as them.

Addressing a news conference, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said the party would move the Lahore High Court seeking the formation of a judicial commission to carry out an independent investigation into the death of Bilal.

Fawad claimed that Bilal was a “special child” and affiliated with Imran since 1992 when he was part of a fund-gathering campaign for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust.

The former federal information minister, who had pictures of Bilal’s post-mortem printed with him, said there were clear marks of injuries on the PTI activist’s hands and wrists.

He added that hands and wrists were places where Bilal would have been hit while protecting himself from sticks.

Fawad said if the custodial torture case of PTI leader Shahbaz Gill had been dealt with properly, other similar occurrences could have been prevented.

Taking to Twitter, PTI leader Yasmin Rashid shared a clip of her speaking on a private TV news channel’s show in which she highlighted the findings of the post-mortem report to claim that Bilal had been subjected to torture.

“The main part is that they have tortured his sensitive organs. Let me tell you that it can also cause a cardiogenic shock as it is a very sensitive area,” she said on the show.

PTI’s Shireen Mazari, in an indirect reference to the caretaker chief minister, tweeted that his job was to conduct elections within 90 days and return home but he was busy “digging the graves of law and democracy by committing the worst violations of constitutional rights in the province on the instructions of his guardians”.

She further wrote, without naming Naqvi, that the nation would hold him responsible for the murder of “innocent Zille Shah” as well as every incident of constitutional violation.

In a separate tweet, Shireen shared a video clip of the news conference where the caretaker chief minister was talking about the government’s plan about arrests.

“Mohsin Naqvi admits he had a plan to arrest [the PTI] activists in any case. He is turning out to be quite the criminal like his masters,” she added.

PTI leader Hammad Azhar claimed that Bilal’s post-mortem report and the case registered against Imran and his allies for murder allegations was the biggest proof of Naqvi’s lie.