Fixing responsibility: Judge nominated to probe Ghanta Ghar killings

On January 16, three men were run over by an excavator.

PESHAWAR: On the request of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government, the Peshawar High Court has nominated an additional sessions judge to probe the Ghanta Ghar incident. On January 16, three people were killed and one was injured during an anti-encroachment incident near Ghanta Ghar.

Additional sessions judge Inamullah Wazir was nominated to head the single-judge enquiry commission to review the incident. A formal letter requested the high court to nominate a judge to look into the killings. The court was also asked to fix responsibility.

Foot of historic clock tower

The district government was conducting an anti-encroachment drive in Ghanta Ghar bazaar on January 16 when an excavator ran over protesting shopkeepers. Three people were killed and one was injured.

The incident occurred when shopkeepers protesting against the drive began pelting the excavator with stones. The driver of MCP’s excavator hastily reversed—allegedly unaware some people were standing behind his vehicle. The driver fled the scene after the incident.

An FIR was registered against Municipal Officer Regulation Shahid Iqbal, Riaz Awan, Municipal Corporation Peshawar (MCP) Administrator Zafar Ali Shah as well as the chief municipal officer. According to the police, complainant Shahid Khan, president of Anjuman-e-Tajran Insaf Group, filed a report against these employees of the MCP at Kutwali police station.

The home department then appointed Special Secretary Siraj Khan as the enquiry officer and asked him to submit his report within three days of the tragic incident. The government paid Rs2 million to the families of the deceased, Khan Muhammad, Muhammad Ismail and Arshad Ali, and Rs200,000 to the injured man, Muhammad Ibrahim.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2015.