Lal Masjid operation: IG constitutes team to conduct probe
Says senior police officials will investigate whether Musharraf is to be implicated on murder charges.
Former military dictator Pervez Musharraf. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
ISLAMABAD:
A team of senior police officials will investigate and determine whether former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf is responsible for the murder of Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi in the 2007 military operation in the mosque. Till then, the former president will not be arrested on allegations of murder.
Inspector General of Police Sikandar Hayat has constituted a team of senior police officers to carry out the probe in the high profile murder case, after taking charge of the investigation from an officer of a junior rank.
“The team will investigate and decide if the former president committed the offence and will then proceed with his arrest as per law,” IGP Hayat said while talking to The Express Tribune.
Musharraf was booked on Monday on charges of murdering Ghazi and his mother in the operation. The case was registered by Aabpara police station on orders of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and on the complaints of Ghazi’s son haroonur Rashid Ghazi.
Ghazi’s son on Wednesday complained that the police had not arrested Musharraf immediately after registering the murder case, even though the former president had not obtained a bail-before-arrest.
“We will not allow the police to accord Musharraf the same VVIP treatment he has been receiving in other cases,” said a spokesperson for Haroon and the Lal Masjid Shohada Foundation (LMSHF).
He said Ghazi’s son would approach the court again if police failed to arrest Musharraf or put him under arrest in his Chak Shehzad farm house where he was already detained in other cases.
Before registration of the murder FIR against Musharraf, a police sub-inspector was handling the case. From the beginning, the police maintained that the former president could not be held directly responsible for the crime as there was no evidence against the former president that directly linked him to the murder. Police officials have stated that the operation was carried out on orders of the then government in 2007 and not Musharraf.
The police were reluctant to register the murder case and booked the former president only on the intervention of the IHC and the FIR was register before the judge in the courtroom.
Haroonur Rashid’s counsel in the court claimed they could provide police with sufficient evidence against the former president which proved that his father and grandmother were murdered in the operation and that the Musharraf was directly responsible for the killings.
In a letter written to the IGP, Haroon’s counsel demanded that the investigations be handed over to senior police officers out of city police’s jurisdiction, which he alleged were biased towards Musharraf.
The IGP however constituted the high-power four-member investigation team which included two superintendents of police, an assistant superintendent of police and a police inspector.
Former President Musharraf’s political advisor Chaudary Sarfraz Anjum Kahlon termed the FIR against the former President as “unjustified and illogical decision that lacked legal merit.”
The decision, he said, would be seen as a victory for terrorists and anti-Pakistani actors.
“The decision to register charges against former president for the murder of extremist cleric is unjustified, illogical and devoid of merit,” said Kahlon.
“It is also a deep sign of disrespect to the 10 martyred SSG Commandos and rangers who were brutally murdered by Ghazi and his group of heavily armed militants,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2013.
A team of senior police officials will investigate and determine whether former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf is responsible for the murder of Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi in the 2007 military operation in the mosque. Till then, the former president will not be arrested on allegations of murder.
Inspector General of Police Sikandar Hayat has constituted a team of senior police officers to carry out the probe in the high profile murder case, after taking charge of the investigation from an officer of a junior rank.
“The team will investigate and decide if the former president committed the offence and will then proceed with his arrest as per law,” IGP Hayat said while talking to The Express Tribune.
Musharraf was booked on Monday on charges of murdering Ghazi and his mother in the operation. The case was registered by Aabpara police station on orders of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and on the complaints of Ghazi’s son haroonur Rashid Ghazi.
Ghazi’s son on Wednesday complained that the police had not arrested Musharraf immediately after registering the murder case, even though the former president had not obtained a bail-before-arrest.
“We will not allow the police to accord Musharraf the same VVIP treatment he has been receiving in other cases,” said a spokesperson for Haroon and the Lal Masjid Shohada Foundation (LMSHF).
He said Ghazi’s son would approach the court again if police failed to arrest Musharraf or put him under arrest in his Chak Shehzad farm house where he was already detained in other cases.
Before registration of the murder FIR against Musharraf, a police sub-inspector was handling the case. From the beginning, the police maintained that the former president could not be held directly responsible for the crime as there was no evidence against the former president that directly linked him to the murder. Police officials have stated that the operation was carried out on orders of the then government in 2007 and not Musharraf.
The police were reluctant to register the murder case and booked the former president only on the intervention of the IHC and the FIR was register before the judge in the courtroom.
Haroonur Rashid’s counsel in the court claimed they could provide police with sufficient evidence against the former president which proved that his father and grandmother were murdered in the operation and that the Musharraf was directly responsible for the killings.
In a letter written to the IGP, Haroon’s counsel demanded that the investigations be handed over to senior police officers out of city police’s jurisdiction, which he alleged were biased towards Musharraf.
The IGP however constituted the high-power four-member investigation team which included two superintendents of police, an assistant superintendent of police and a police inspector.
Former President Musharraf’s political advisor Chaudary Sarfraz Anjum Kahlon termed the FIR against the former President as “unjustified and illogical decision that lacked legal merit.”
The decision, he said, would be seen as a victory for terrorists and anti-Pakistani actors.
“The decision to register charges against former president for the murder of extremist cleric is unjustified, illogical and devoid of merit,” said Kahlon.
“It is also a deep sign of disrespect to the 10 martyred SSG Commandos and rangers who were brutally murdered by Ghazi and his group of heavily armed militants,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2013.