Flexing muscle: MPA accused of attacking police

SHO says he will be arrested after investigation committee submits its report.

FAISALABAD:

The Khurarianwala police on Saturday registered a case against provincial assembly member Rana Shoaib Idrees for attacking three police officials.

Khurarianwala Station House Officer Khalid Pervaiz told newsmen that the MPA’s arrest had been deferred until the inquiry committee headed by Operations SSP Sahibzada Bilal Umar and Jaranwala SP Arif Shehbaz submitted their report.

He said he had led a police team on Friday night at 1:30 am that arrested proclaimed offenders Muhammad Zulfiqar, Muhammad Khawar and Muhammad Iqbal from the MPA’s farm for injuring a sub inspector of Jaranwala police station two weeks ago.

He said the MPA and a dozen other men later barged into the police station and attacked policemen. He said they freed the three men and demanded weapons from the police.

He said Sub Inspector Riyasat Ali was injured in the process. He said Idrees’ men had torn the uniforms of several police officials and damaged furniture. The SHO said the situation was defused through negotiations. He said the injured police officials had been sent to hospital for treatment.

He said City Police Officer (CPO) Haidar Ashraf had taken notice of the situation and constituted a committee to investigate the case.

He said committee had been directed to submit its report within 24 hours.

He said the Punjab chief minister has also taken notice of the incident and sought a report from RPO Nawaz Warriach

Talking to The Express Tribune, Idrees denied attacking the police station.

He said the police were trying to implicate him in a false  case.

He said Zulfiqar Ali was a candidate for chairmanship of Khurarianwala Town Committee and belonged to a respectable family.

He said the three men were not wanted by the police in any case. “I personally identified the accused involved in the torture of the police official and repeatedly asked Khurarainwala police to register the case against them,” he said. He said when Ali was arrested from his house in the middle of the night, dozens of his relatives went to the police station and demanded that he be freed. He said when the police ignored their protest, a mob broke into the police station and freed the men.

Idrees claimed that he had stopped the mob from setting fire to the police station.

He said he and some police officials had negotiated with the mob and asked them to go home.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2014.