Sialkot murders: report submitted in SC

Justice (retd) Kazim Malik, who was given the task to conduct an inquiry into the murders, has submitted his report.

SIALKOT: Justice (retd) Kazim Malik, who was given the task to conduct an inquiry into the lynching of two brothers in Sialkot, has completed his report.

Speaking to the media in Lahore, Justice Kazim said that he submitted his inquiry report to the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday.

He said that the the Supreme Court will start its hearing of the case on September 1 and that his report consists of two parts, the first part is based on fact-finding and the latter is based on the recommendations.

Justice Kazim added that statements of 101 people, who were directly or indirectly linked to the case, have been recorded.

He added that it would be upto the apex court to decide on whether they want to make the report public or not.

Updated from the print edition (below)

JIT completes investigation, assures justice within days

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has completed the inquiry of the Sialkot lynching of two innocent brothers, additional IG and head of JIT, Mushtaq Sukhera said on Sunday. He added that incident has badly tarnished the image of police, overshadowing its past sacrifices in the line of duty.

While addressing a press conference at the DPO office in Sialkot, the IG assured that justice will be delivered and all the accused directly or indirectly involved in “this inhuman tragedy will be brought to task, as no one is above the law.”

On August 15, a mob brutally tortured and murdered Mughees and Muneeb Butt in Sialkot in front of a large crowd, including police officials. The Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, taking note of the incident directed a high level judicial commission headed by Director General Anti Corruption Establishment Punjab, Justice Kazim Ali Malik. The Commission will submit its judicial probe report before the Supreme Court of Pakistan on September 1.

In his address, Sukhera also assured to provide justice to the grieved family within days and weeks instead of months and years. He said that the trial of the case will soon begin in an anti -terrorism court in Gujranwala.

He said the police have remained successful in arresting almost all the accused people nominated in the FIR. 17 out of the 18 accused arrested, while six out of 10 police officials have also been held, he disclosed.

“We remained successful in fulfilling the responsibility of providing justice to the grieved family as directed by the Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif,” the IG said. He added that the JIT will soon provide the investigation report to the Punjab CM.

Two accused sub-inspectors have surrendered before senior police officials in Sialkot. According to the FIR, sub-inspector Gulzar Khan showed negligence as he kept watching the lynching as a silent spectator along with the other police officials. While sub- inspector Abdul Rasheed had helped the accused SHO of Sialkot Saddar police Rana Muhammad Ilyas to escape from police custody on August 21.

Sukhera said that the investigation has been completed on a fair basis and in a transparent manner. He revealed that the police have arrested only those accused people against who there was the solid evidence and proof.

He also appreciated the cooperation of the plaintiff, who showed strong affinity with justice, making it clear to the inquiry team that no innocent person should be trapped in the case even if a hundred involved needed to be set free.

The plaintiff, Zarar Butt, who is the uncle of the victims disclosed to the media that, “Up to five days after the incident, the police did not cooperate at all and the FIR had not even been registered.  However after the police got a wakeup call after the involvement of the Supreme Court and we hope now for justice.”

AGENCIES (Additional reporting by Junaid Aftab in Sialkot)

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2010.