Concealing facts: Petition seeks case against policemen

The petitioner says a police inquiry had declared him innocent in a murder case

LAHORE: An additional district and sessions judge sought comments on Friday on a petition seeking registration of a case against some police officials for concealing facts in a murder case involving the late MNA Maulana Azam Tariq’s henchmen.

Petitioner Muhammad Younas told the court Tayyab Khan was murdered in 2001 during a clash between two groups over the possession of a madrassah, Mazahirul Uloom, in Chunian.

He accused Muhammad Sharif Budhi, Haji Abdul Rehman, Muhammad Amjad, Mahmood Khan, Muhammad Mumtaz and Haji Abdul Rehman of killing Tayyab on the late MNA’s directive.

He said Azam Tariq, then MNA Ashiq Dogar and then MPA Hassan Akhtar had later implicated him and Ajmeri Khan in a murder case.

Younas said Sharif Budhi, Muhammad Amjad and Muhammad Mumtaz were Tariq’s gunmen. He said they had been trying to organise Lashkar-i-Jhangvi in Kasur and wanted to use the madrassah for terrorist activities.

The petitioner said the Sheikhpura Crimes SP had conducted an inquiry and declared him and Ajmeri Khan innocent. He said in his report the SP had concluded that the late MNA’s aides had killed Tayyab Khan.

However, he said, the policemen concerned had submitted a challan before court concealing the facts and not mentioning the SP’s report. “We were declared guilty although the SP’s inquiry report had called us innocent,” the petitioner said.

Younas said the officials had also misplaced the investigation record. He said he had visited the CCPO, the DIG and the Mustafabad SHO for the registration of an FIR against the delinquent police officials. He said his statement was not being recorded under Section 154 (information... given orally to an officer in charge of a police station shall be reduced to writing) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

He requested the court to direct the CCPO, the DIG and the Mustafabad SHO to record his statement and order an FIR against the delinquent police officials.

Tariq and four of his bodyguards were shot dead in their car in Islamabad on October 6, 2003.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2015.