Out of all proportion: HRCP condemns police brutality in Lahore killings

LAHORE:

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has strongly condemned the police action at the Minhajul Quran Secretariat on Tuesday, in which eight people were killed and at least 90 injured.

In a statement, the Commission said, “HRCP condemns in the strongest words possible the unfortunate events on Tuesday in which eight people, including two women, were killed” when the administration reportedly tried to remove some barriers from roads around the secretariat.

Skepticism

HRCP condoled with the bereaved families and said it found it difficult to accept that the fatalities occurred in an exercise aimed at removing encroachments alone. “The barriers had been there for a number of years and removing them on the eve of Tahirul Qadri’s arrival in Pakistan has led many to conclude that the move was politically motivated.

‘Police brutality’

HRCP said it was not the first incident that lack of police training or their inclination violence in dealing with the crowd had been badly exposed. It was not likely to be the last, it added. “In fact, Tuesday’s incident makes it abundantly clear that there are no bounds to police brutality in action against political rivals of the parties in power.”

Back and forth

“The government’s case has suffered from confusion and lack of clarity about the purpose of the raid. The incident has diluted the government’s reputation and ability to deal with agitated crowds. Whatever the nature of the offensive by Mr Qadri, it is necessary to avoid violence,” the commission said. HRCP said the inquiry launched into the incident must “fix responsibility without fear and its findings must be made public”. HRCP said that the probe must be exhaustive enough to determine if resort to force was necessary and proportionate to any threat that government functionaries faced.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2014.