Police coerced into bringing arrests in Blasphemy case on record

Two of the three accused named by Ahl-e-Sunnat clerics only to ‘strengthen’ the case.

LAHORE: Batapur police, no longer able to withstand the pressure of Ahl-e-Sunnat clerics and their members, placed the arrest of three Ahl-e-Hadith men on record in a blasphemy case and obtained their physical remand from a local court on Friday after keeping them in illegal detention for seven days.

Sources at the police station, told The Express Tribune that the investigation officer, Inspector Aftab Shah, had wanted to free two of the men as they were not assigned any role in the incident. However, he bowed down in the end to the demand of the local Ahl-e-Sunnat clerics and their followers and sought remand for all three. Sources said that the clerics and their supporters threatened to hold protests and demonstrations in front of the police station if any of the men were released.

Ahl-e-Sunnat scholars of Jallo Mor area mobilised people of their sect and forced the police to arrest an Ahl-e-Hadith mosque committee secretary general Shahid Hassan Butt and two of his business partners, Sheikh Shahid and Nawazish, on October 9, accusing them of burning pages of the Holy Quran.

The police interrogated them for three days without recording their arrests.

Haji Muhammad Yasin, one of the complainants, told The Express Tribune that although Sheikh Shahid and Nawazish were not directly involved in the burning of the pages, it was necessary to name them in the FIR as a discharge for them would weaken their case against the ‘real’ accused and might lead to his exoneration. He said that Nawazish was implicated for not stopping the men from burning the pages. He said that when Shahid Butt was burning the pages, Sheikh Shahid stood besides him. Haji added that they had considered letting Nawazish off the hook if he agreed to become an approver.

Abid Hassan Butt, brother of Shahid Hassan Butt, told The Express Tribune that the complainants had told him that they were ready to reconcile and had asked for a few days’ time for the matter to cool off but instead went ahead and registered the FIR. He said he was told that the arrest was a stalling tactic so that the public protests would stop. He said that the members of Ahl-e-Hadith mosque committee were in touch with Jamat ul Dawa and in view of the failure of the reconciliation efforts would seek the help of Jamat ul Dawa against the complainants.

Inspector Aftab Shah said that their investigation was impartial and that the matter was being investigated purely on merit. He said that given the sensitive nature of the matter, the Superintendent of Police (Investigation) would personally hear both parties out and reach the bottom of the matter. Inspector Shah said that he was not taking any pressure from either party.

Batapur police registered an FIR on October 3 against unidentified suspects. According to the FIR, registered under Section 295-B of Pakistan Penal Code, some person(s) threw pages of the Holy Quran in the burning garbage. Two pages were saved and handed over to the police as evidence.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2010.