Complainant in Jaranwala case alleges police coercion

The Minority Alliance Pakistan has expressed concern over an alleged attempt by the police to implicate a complainant in staging an armed attack against himself to get asylum abroad.

According to sources, Azhar Sandhu had lodged a case in Jaranwala Saddar police station, stating that a bearded man had shot him in the arm when he was going from Faisalabad to Chak 71GB.

The police arrested the complainant after suspecting in initial investigation that he had conspired to create an impression through wall chalking on a church.

The minority rights group's chairman Akmal Bhatti said while speaking to the media that its representatives had met the family of the complainant, who was a cleric, and had been informed that he had been pressured during the investigation.

He alleged that the police had tried to absolve itself of the responsibility to protect the citizens during the attacks on churches and houses in Jaranwala on August 16 by coming up with conspiracy theories rather than addressing the mob violence. He said the Christian community and human rights organisations had been working against gender discrimination, inequality and for the protection of minorities in Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2023..