LHC CJ summons the Khanewal DPO

Two lessees allegedly tortured two other employees after they asked for a raise in their salary.

KHANEWAL: The Lahore High Court chief justice, Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, has summoned the Khanewal district police officer (DPO) and the Nawa Shehr police station SHO on October 22 (today) in the suo motu proceedings of the alleged torture of employees by two lessees.

The lessees, Laal and Muhammad Yousaf, were arrested by the Nawa Sheher police on Wednesday night for torturing their cook Altaf Hussain and tenant Qasoor Hussain. The victims said that they had asked for a raise in their wages which infuriated the lessees. They told The Express Tribune that the lessees stripped them naked, tortured them, shaved off their hair eyebrows and moustaches and later blackened their faces and paraded them throughout the Bhawan Shah village. They said that they were held for half an hour by Laal and Yousaf at the dera. They said that the lessees tortured them and later told them to walk around the town. “They said walk in a straight line and warned us that if we turn around or stop moving they’ll shoot us,” Altaf Hussain said.  Hussain said they were freed after the area residents intervened and requested the lessees to spare them.

While in police custody, the lessees told The Tribune that they had tortured their cook and tenant because they suspected them of stealing cotton from their land. They said that they paraded them to make them a symbol for the rest of the town. “We had to do it so that no Kabirwala resident ever dares to steal others’ belongings,” Yousaf said.

The victims denied the allegations. They said that the police dcould investigate these allegations and hang them if they are found guilty of stealing cotton.

The Khanewal district police officer, Muhammad Waqas Abbasi, said that the police would not let go of the culprits. He assured the victims and the media that he would make sure that the culprits get punished. He said that the police was carrying out raids for the arrest for 10 accomplices identified by the victims. He said that all accused would very soon be behind the bars.

The victims appealed to the authorities to add the anti-terrorism act to the FIR against the lessees.

Nawa Sheher SHO Rizwan Khan said that the case was registered against the lessees under Sections 148, 149, 342 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The land obtained by Laal and Muhammad Yousaf on lease is owned by the former minister Raza Hayat Hiraj.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2010.