Death of a QAU student: Driver sent to jail on 14-day judicial remand

Students and faculty offer funeral prayers in absentia for the student.

ISLAMABAD:

The car driver accused of fatally injuring a student of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) was sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand on Monday.

The suspect, NESCOM Hospital Director Wasim Iqbal, was accused of manslaughter after he hit Zaheer Ahmed Lakho, a student of QAU, near Bari Imam while driving a Suzuki Alto (RIA 2607) on Saturday. He was detained by students on the scene and handed over to the Secretariat police. The injured student was taken to Shifa International Hospital where he died of injuries.

However, when the students returned to the Secretariat police station to pursue the case the police had already released the suspect, allegedly after being influenced by some his relatives in the army and civil service. The QAU students in retaliation besieged the Secretariat police station for over 18 hours till the suspect was arrested on Sunday evening.

Meanwhile, students of the QAU on Monday offered funeral prayers in absentia for the student. A large number of students and faculty members gathered at the university to offer fateha and Quran khani for the student.

Jamil Hussain, a QAU student leader said that the students called off the protest after the prime suspect was arrested. He added that the students would again take to the streets if the accused was not punished according to the law.

The students also condemned the attitude of the police for letting a suspect evade police custody.

Secretariat Police Station House Officer Hakeem Khan said that police have registered an FIR against Iqbal, while separate cases have also been registered against two police officials and a friend of the accused who helped him escape from police custody. The three men were identified as Assistant Sub-Inspector Shaukat Abbassi, Head Constable Ateequr Rehman and Pakistan Army Lieutenant Ismail.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2011.