Family of youth ‘murdered by cops’ seeks justice

HARIPUR:

Muhammad Asif, the father of a youth killed in an alleged police encounter, has declared the encounter fake and demanded an inquiry commission to bring the responsible elements to justice.

The victim’s father, in a written complaint to the Haripur District Police Officer (DPO), the Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa chief minister, the IGP and the prime minister, states that he is a destitute man but a respectable person. On June 18, the Haripur police killed his son Ibrahim Khan after levelling baseless allegations and registered a fabricated case with grave provisions. All the allegations levelled against his son were based on lies and dishonesty, Asif narrated in his complaint.

The complainant claimed that his son didn’t open fire on any policeman and alleged that the police deliberately staged a fake police encounter. “Nowadays there are CTV cameras installed everywhere. If there is any evidence of my son committing firing, it should have been brought to media besides concrete evidence of robbery.”

“But we are being pressured by the City SHO not to file any case and open mouth. We were unable to submit an application in time owing to the pressure exerted by the SHO and now fear that our lives are in danger,” Asif stated in the application and sought protection.

He alleged that senior officers of the district police were also holding press conferences without investigation and any evidence, doubting their protection for the SHO and other cops.

DPO Zafar, when contacted, said that an inquiry committee consisting of senior officers would be constituted to investigate the police encounter and strict action would be taken if negligence of any official was proved.