Conflicting death tolls: CPO’s resignation demanded

WMAP announces that it will not cooperate with govt unless newly-appointed CPO Umar Hayat Lalika is suspended.

RAWALPINDI: The Wafaqul Madaris Al Arabiya Pakistan (WMAP) announced on Saturday that it will not cooperate with the government unless newly-appointed City Police Officer (CPO) Umar Hayat Lalika is suspended. They demanded his immediate suspension and chastised him for claiming, in a recent press conference, that no seminary student was among those killed amid the Ashura violence in the city on November 15. WMAP officials were “deeply offended” by Lalika’s statements and said they will decide their future course of action after a meeting on Sunday. They further said they had met with the minister for interior and provided him with a list of names and pictures of 15 seminary students who they claim were killed during the violence.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2013.