Islamabad killings: Court orders FIR against PM, top aides

PAT leader contends that police had refused to register a case against PML-N leadership.

ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court on Monday ordered police to register a case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and key cabinet ministers for their alleged involvement in the deaths of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers in clashes between protesters and police in Islamabad’s Red Zone.

Judge Raja Jawad Abbasi of the session court ordered the Station House Officer (SHO) in Secretariat police to register a first information report (FIR) against PM Nawaz and members of his immediate cabinet including Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Minister of Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister of Railway Khawaja Saad Rafique and former Inspector General of Police (IGP) against the killing of PAT workers.

The decision comes in response to a petition  filed by PAT leader Umar Riaz Abbasi, against the Secretariat police for not registering an FIR against the killings in Islamabad following intense clashes between anti-government demonstrators and security forces.

During Monday’s hearing, the petitioner’s counsel contended that police had not registered a case even after two weeks.

Abbasi, through his counsel Ishtiaq Mir, maintained that peaceful PAT protesters were killed by police during sit-ins on August 30, but Secretariat police was still hesitant to register a case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his cabinet minister.  Blaming the premier for last month’s killings in the capital, Mir said that the government was responsible for the ‘assault’ on ‘peaceful protesters’ that resulted in several deaths.

Advancing his argument, the lawyer informed the court that PAT leadership had approached the police station in a bid to lodge a complaint but police officials refused to registerca FIR leaving the party with no option than to approach the court.  Subsequently, the petitioner’s counsel requested the court to direct the police to register an FIR against the perpetrators of the Islamabad incident.

At least 13 FIRs were registered in different police stations against the leadership of PAT and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), after their supporters clashed with security forces during a failed bid to storm the Prime Minister’s official residence last month.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2014.