Mob attack: FIR lodged against 150 people for vandalising police station

Residents of Kata Khel allegedly attacked Nawab Shaheed police station on June 12.

DI KHAN:

Nawab Shaheed police station on Saturday registered an FIR against 150 people allegedly involved in throwing stones at the station and aerial firing on June 12, injuring seven people including three policemen as a result.

On June 12, SHO Imran Kundi along with a police team conducted a raid on the house of Muhammad Iqbal in Kata Khel. They recovered two Kalashnikovs and seven bullets and arrested Iqbal.

Following the raid, agitated residents of Kata Khel staged a protest in front of the Nawab Shaheed police station. Some of the infuriated mob members pelted stones at the station. In order to control the situation, the police resorted to aerial firing and tear gas. In the ensuing chaos, seven people including three policemen sustained injuries.

The wounded were shifted to District Headquarters and Teaching Hospital, DI Khan. They were identified as police personnel Yousaf, Edris and Anamullah and civilians, Esa Khan, Gul Nawaz, Ali Muhammad and Iftikhar.

Acting DPO DI Khan, Abdul Ghafoor had then formed an inquiry committee, comprising two police officials and three members of the Reconciliation Committee, to probe the matter and identify those responsible.

The FIR lodged on Saturday by SHO Kundi against 150 people under multiple sections of the Pakistan Penal Code is a result of the inquiry report. Meanwhile, the residents of Kata Khel have termed the report ‘baseless’ and ‘unjust’.

Ahmad Khan, one of the men nominated in the FIR, said the report was impartial. “It (the report) favours the police. Policemen involved in injuring civilians on June 12 have been pardoned,” he alleged, adding the people request IG Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Governor Shaukatullah Khan to take notice and order another high level inquiry.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2013.