Due process: Relatives of Youhanabad protesters held to ‘trace lynch mob’

They were moved from one police station to another to avoid court action against illegal detention.

LAHORE: Having identified several suspects of lynching two men following twin attacks on churches in Youhanabad, city police have taken many of their relatives into custody and detained them at various police stations.

The police picked them up from various Christian neighbourhoods last week.

A list prepared by Model Town Division, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, showed that police had detained 17 relatives and neighbours of nine named accused. After assurances of cooperation from various religious and political groups, police released them on Thursday night.



According to the list, police had detained Javed Nizami in place of his son-in-law Naveed Masih. They had detained Haris Masih, son of Arif Masih, instead of Naveed. Waris Masih had been held in place of his son Nadir, a resident of C Block, Youhanabad.

Ashraf Masih had been detained in place of his son Riaz Masih. Police had also detained Ashraf Masih, son-in-law of Bashir Masih.

Police had identified Saghar, son of Aslam Masih, as one of the suspects. After they failed to find him, they had detained his uncles Samuel, Akram and Emanuel. Police finally arrested Saghar, a matriculation student, four days ago

Police had also identified Yousaf Rickshawala as a suspect. To reach him, they detained his relatives Ishaq Masih, Nadim Masih and Yousaf.

Siddique Gulzar had been detained to trace Shamoon. Tariq Masih was held in place of his cousin Nadar. Kashif Akbar was detained in place of his younger brother Qaisar Akbar. Having identified Shehzad as a suspect, police had detained his elder brothers Afzal Anayat and Shehbaz Anayat and another relative Nauman.

So far, police have arrested three people identified as suspects. The remaining are at large.

An Investigation Wing official, asking not to be named, told The Express Tribune that police had been instructed to arrest all the suspects at any cost. He said the detained had been moved from one police station to another so that court action against illegal detention could be avoided.

He said relatives of the suspects had been detained to obtain information on their whereabouts.

He said police had managed to arrest some of the suspects through information obtained this way.

Advocate Tipu Salman Makhdoom said detaining innocent people was illegal and unconstitutional.

He said these people should move court against police for keeping them in illegal detention. He said if police tortured had them in detention, they should hold the police accountable.

Police were reported to have identified 100 accused with the help of TV footage and NADRA.

As many as eight FIRs have been registered in connection with the incidents. Two were registered against terrorists for attacking churches and one against a woman who hit a protester with her car

Five FIRs were registered against residents of Youhanabad in various cases; One on the complaint of the Nishter Colony SHO against 500 to 600 unidentified protesters for lynching a man after snatching him from police custody;  another against 500 to 600 protesters accusing them of damaging public property, police vehicles and Metro Bus stations.  A third FIR was registered against 500-600 people on complaint of Muhammad Saleem, brother of Muhammad Naeem who was lynched by a mob. The fourth was registered against 200 to 250 people for attacking police and obstructing traffic on March 16. The fifth FIR was registered against seven men on complaint of a TV cameraman. The cameraman accused them of stealing his camera and damaging a vehicle.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2015.