Back and forth: Probe into Model Town carnage going nowhere
Head of the three-member team changed thrice, only video footage obtained so far.
LAHORE:
A three-member police committee tasked with determining the force’s role during the June 17 clashes in Model Town incident has failed to make any headway.
The head of the committee, formed by Inspector General of police (IGP) Mushtaq Sukhera, has been changed thrice since the carnage took place at Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Secretariat.
Sukhera had formed the committee, headed by Additional IG Sarmad Saeed Khan, on the day of the incident. Khan was removed from the inquiry team two days later and replaced by Additional IG (Finance and Welfare) Arif Mushtaq.
On Tuesday, Mushtaq was transferred to the police’s Special Branch and Khan was again made head of the committee on Wednesday. Khan had earlier refused to head the inquiry team.
Deputy Inspector General (Telecom) Ali Amir and AIG (Finance) Hussain Habib are the other members of the committee.
The frequent shuffling has kept the committee from making any progress more than a week after the clashes.
A police officer, requesting anonymity, said the committee had so far only obtained the video footage of the clashes between PAT workers and police. The officer said the committee had also sought record of the wireless communication between police officers. The record would help determine whether the policemen at the secretariat had opened fire on their own initiative or if they were ordered to do that by their superiors.
In the FIR registered after the mayhem, police claimed the killings had taken place due to firing by PAT activists. The wireless communication record, the officer said, might challenge the police’s claim that they did not fire on the PAT activists.
He said that a police officer, who had been made an officer on special duty (OSD) after the incident had been found ordering policemen to open fire in the wireless communication record.
A video footage, available with The Express Tribune, showed policemen firing shots inside the secretariat as SP (Security) Salman Ali Khan ordered them to “take over the secretariat”. The video was captured using a mobile phone camera.
Asked why the SP would order the takeover of the building during what the authorities had called a routine anti-encroachment drive, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Zulfiqar Hameed said the officer might have said so to suppress the “attackers who were firing at police from inside the secretariat”.
“It wasn’t a castle that was to be taken over… the SP need not have issued such orders. It seems that he had been driven by emotions at the time.”
No departmental action has been taken against the officer.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2014.
A three-member police committee tasked with determining the force’s role during the June 17 clashes in Model Town incident has failed to make any headway.
The head of the committee, formed by Inspector General of police (IGP) Mushtaq Sukhera, has been changed thrice since the carnage took place at Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) Secretariat.
Sukhera had formed the committee, headed by Additional IG Sarmad Saeed Khan, on the day of the incident. Khan was removed from the inquiry team two days later and replaced by Additional IG (Finance and Welfare) Arif Mushtaq.
On Tuesday, Mushtaq was transferred to the police’s Special Branch and Khan was again made head of the committee on Wednesday. Khan had earlier refused to head the inquiry team.
Deputy Inspector General (Telecom) Ali Amir and AIG (Finance) Hussain Habib are the other members of the committee.
The frequent shuffling has kept the committee from making any progress more than a week after the clashes.
A police officer, requesting anonymity, said the committee had so far only obtained the video footage of the clashes between PAT workers and police. The officer said the committee had also sought record of the wireless communication between police officers. The record would help determine whether the policemen at the secretariat had opened fire on their own initiative or if they were ordered to do that by their superiors.
In the FIR registered after the mayhem, police claimed the killings had taken place due to firing by PAT activists. The wireless communication record, the officer said, might challenge the police’s claim that they did not fire on the PAT activists.
He said that a police officer, who had been made an officer on special duty (OSD) after the incident had been found ordering policemen to open fire in the wireless communication record.
A video footage, available with The Express Tribune, showed policemen firing shots inside the secretariat as SP (Security) Salman Ali Khan ordered them to “take over the secretariat”. The video was captured using a mobile phone camera.
Asked why the SP would order the takeover of the building during what the authorities had called a routine anti-encroachment drive, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Zulfiqar Hameed said the officer might have said so to suppress the “attackers who were firing at police from inside the secretariat”.
“It wasn’t a castle that was to be taken over… the SP need not have issued such orders. It seems that he had been driven by emotions at the time.”
No departmental action has been taken against the officer.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2014.