Sialkot lynching verdict: Family demands apology from minister
Says Firdous Ashiq Awan tried to influence case to favour killers.
SIALKOT:
A day after an anti-terrorism court issued a strong verdict in the Sialkot lynching case, the family of the murdered brothers has demanded an apology from the information minister for attempting to influence the case.
“Firdous Ashiq Awan had tried to influence the case in favour of the killers by staging rallies and meetings in Buttar village,” the family’s lawyer Shakeel Thakur told a press conference in Sialkot on Wednesday. “She must now apologise as the court has declared the boys innocent.”
He said the current investigation officer in Sialkot Muneef Nasir Qureshi had no link with the case but he was trying to get involved by issuing statements against Mughees and Muneeb Butt. He demanded that the Punjab police chief should immediately transfer Qureshi and initiate an inquiry against him.
Death threats
For the family, who praised the verdict and thanked the Supreme Court for taking suo motu notice twice to take the case to its logical end, the ordeal hasn’t yet ended. Family members say they are facing threats to their lives and have demanded police protection.
“Relatives of the accused, during the proceedings of this case, have been contacting us. Unidentified people have also been threatening us that they will harm our other kids if a verdict was issued against them. We didn’t give an affidavit to forgive any accused because this was a case for all those who had sided with us and we had no right to give relief to anybody on our own,” the brothers’ uncle Khwaja Amjad told The Express Tribune.
Sajjad Butt, father of Mughees and Muneeb, has appealed to the Punjab chief minister for security for his family.
“This verdict is the victory of truth. My family and I went through immense pressure and mental torture for 13 months and five days [the duration of court proceedings]. Two of my nephews were attacked and my deceased sons were accused of all sorts of crimes,” said Sajjad. “We have nothing against the people of Buttar village [but] we would never have pardoned the killers for any kind of compensation.”
Amjad also demanded that the government should explain the lapses in the system which caused the case to linger on for over a year.
(With additional reporting by Ali Usman in Lahore)
Published in The Express Tribune, September 22nd, 2011.
A day after an anti-terrorism court issued a strong verdict in the Sialkot lynching case, the family of the murdered brothers has demanded an apology from the information minister for attempting to influence the case.
“Firdous Ashiq Awan had tried to influence the case in favour of the killers by staging rallies and meetings in Buttar village,” the family’s lawyer Shakeel Thakur told a press conference in Sialkot on Wednesday. “She must now apologise as the court has declared the boys innocent.”
He said the current investigation officer in Sialkot Muneef Nasir Qureshi had no link with the case but he was trying to get involved by issuing statements against Mughees and Muneeb Butt. He demanded that the Punjab police chief should immediately transfer Qureshi and initiate an inquiry against him.
Death threats
For the family, who praised the verdict and thanked the Supreme Court for taking suo motu notice twice to take the case to its logical end, the ordeal hasn’t yet ended. Family members say they are facing threats to their lives and have demanded police protection.
“Relatives of the accused, during the proceedings of this case, have been contacting us. Unidentified people have also been threatening us that they will harm our other kids if a verdict was issued against them. We didn’t give an affidavit to forgive any accused because this was a case for all those who had sided with us and we had no right to give relief to anybody on our own,” the brothers’ uncle Khwaja Amjad told The Express Tribune.
Sajjad Butt, father of Mughees and Muneeb, has appealed to the Punjab chief minister for security for his family.
“This verdict is the victory of truth. My family and I went through immense pressure and mental torture for 13 months and five days [the duration of court proceedings]. Two of my nephews were attacked and my deceased sons were accused of all sorts of crimes,” said Sajjad. “We have nothing against the people of Buttar village [but] we would never have pardoned the killers for any kind of compensation.”
Amjad also demanded that the government should explain the lapses in the system which caused the case to linger on for over a year.
(With additional reporting by Ali Usman in Lahore)
Published in The Express Tribune, September 22nd, 2011.