Court rebukes Mastung attack investigators

BHC expresses dissatisfaction over investigation of the bus attack case.

QUETTA: Investigators probing the Mastung bus attack came under fire on Tuesday when the Balochistan High Court expressed its resentment over their ‘poor performance’, saying that people are losing faith in the investigation.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Balochistan Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Noor Mohammad Miskanzai, passed these remarks during the hearing of suo motu case of the firing incident that killed 26 Shia pilgrims in Mastung on September 19.

Balochistan Advocate General Amanullah Kanrani produced the statements of five eyewitnesses following the directives of the court.

According to the statements, two Baloch and Pashto speaking men resisted the attack and were subsequently gunned down by the militants who attacked the bus.

“Today again, innocent people were killed making it seem that the killers have been given a free hand. The culprits are moving freely in the city,” the chief justice observed.

He also directed his anger at the deputy attorney general, saying, “I have issued an order but you failed to respond properly. Should I issue a contempt of court notice to you?” However, the deputy attorney general admitted his mistake.

The court observed that a Levies check post is situated about 202 yards away from the crime scene and yet no Levies personnel reached the spot on time. “People all the way from Quetta reached the spot, but Levies personnel could not?” he asked.

The chief justice decried the investigation process, saying that he does not know what the investigators want to do as they neither took fingerprints from the crime scene nor recorded statements.

The court directed the investigators to collect information from check posts situated in and around the crime scene. It asked the police to record the statements of more eyewitnesses from their residences, not at the police station. “The federal and provincial secret agencies must cooperate with the investigation team,” the court ordered.

The hearing was adjourned till October 18, 2011.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2011.