Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kot Addu Asadullah Khan, while talking to The Express Tribune, said that Muhammad Ramzan was killed when a pillar of the main gate of Kot Addu Government College fell on him during the stampede.
Khan said 20 police officers and a number of Revenue Department officials had been deployed to control the situation and to avoid any untoward incidents. Around 2,000 flood victims from different villages of Kot Addu tehsil were at the centre.
The DSP said that more policemen and officials had been sent to the centre, and added that the municipal and college administration had been ordered to rebuild the pillar immediately.
Local human rights activist Wasim Shakir said that the deceased was a resident of Kasba Gujrat and had six children. He said that one flood victim had died during police baton charge at the same Watan Card Centre last year.
Flood victims present at the spot protested against the incident and alleged that it was a result of the malpractice of police and revenue department officials. They alleged that the officials were taking Rs1,000 to Rs2,000 from each flood victim to let them into the centre and they had intentionally closed the main gate and opened the small one. The administration and police officials denied these allegations.
The local police station had not registered a case till the filing of this report, while DSP Asadullah said that it was “incidental” and there was no need to register one. The legal heirs, flood victims and human rights activists demanded that a case be registered against those responsible and a judicial inquiry be conducted.
This was not the end of the troubles for police for the day. Khan added that five of his constables were also injured when flood victims tried to forcefully gain access to a Watan Card Centre set up at the Government higher secondary school Sanawan. Some flood victims alleged that the police deputed at the Centre had allowed access to some victims out of turn in exchange for gratification.
Following the incident at the Sanawan higher secondary school, many aggrieved flood victims laid siege to the Sanawan police station. They even pelted a returning police party with stones as the officers entered the station. Some officers managed to clamber on to the roof the station and fired into the crowd, injuring two people. Asad, son of Iqbal, and Asad son of Ghulam Nabi were reportedly injured from Police firing.
One man was injured in a related incident when an angry mob set fire to a police vehicle at the Watan Card Centre in Sanawan. In their bit to control the mob, police fired at them, injuring a man identified as Farooq.
DCO Muzaffargarh orders probe
Tahir Khurshid, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Muzaffargarh, has appointed ADC Muzaffar Sial inquiry officer and ordered him to probe the incident and submit a fact finding report within 24 hours.
Khurshid said that the ADC had reached the site immediately after the incident and started inquiry proceedings.
He said that he had contacted the Chief Minister’s Secretariat for the release of Rs500,000 as compensation for the family of the deceased. He said that a formal case will be sent after the completion of formalities.
The DCO said that so far out of 108,000, around 90,449 Watan Cards have been distributed among floods victims through five centres in Muzaffargarh district since January 6.
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