Arson attack: 19 accused obtain pre-arrest bail

‘Drug dealers attacked my house to avenge my campaign against their activities’.

FAISALABAD:

Samundari police have registered a case against 25 men, 19 of whom have been identified, for setting ablaze the house of a rival family.

But they have yet to arrest anyone because all 19 men named in the FIR have obtained pre-arrest bails, Station House Officer Usman Imtiaz Waraich told The Express Tribune.

He said the police would now request the court to cancel their bails so that they can be arrested.

Talking to The Express Tribune, complainant Bashir Masih, alleged that the suspects were drug dealers and that Samundari police were protecting them. He said they had attacked his house and later set it on fire, on Friday night, because he had been objecting to their illegal activities.

Samundari SHO Waraich rejected the allegation that the police were supporting any illegal activity.

He said he had cracked down on all illegal activities reported in the area since taking charge of the office two months ago.

In his application for the FIR, Bashir Masih had stated that he and other members of his family had fled the house on learning that the suspects were coming to kill them. He said that while they were gone the assailants poured kerosene oil all over the house and set it on fire.

The FIR was registered under Section 436 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Bashir Masih said one of the men associated with the suspects had been killed in self defence by his nephew, Tariq Masih, in an earlier attack at his house on January 28. He said his son has been imprisoned in the matter.

Bashir Masih said the suspects had been opposed to his and some other residents’ public awareness campaigns against use of drugs in the area.

He said he was working with a non-governmental organisation working for the purpose.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2012.