LAHORE: The post-mortem examination of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf worker Ali Bilal has revealed that he died because of ‘massive blunt trauma’ to his body, including skull fracture and intracranial hemorrhaging.
The post-mortem report stated that Ali Bilal received 26 injuries to his body, including serious injury to his head. “The injuries… are anti-mortem (causing death) in nature. The pattern and distribution of injuries are consistent with massive blunt trauma,” reads the report.
“Cause of death, in this case, is the fracture of skull and intracranial haemorrhage,” the doctors who carried out the post-mortem examination of the deceased Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf activist concluded.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf claims that Ali Bilal, more commonly known among his comrades as Zil-e-Shah, died of police torture after the personnel launched a crackdown on the party workers near PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence here on Wednesday.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had announced a party rally from Zaman Park to Data Darbar in Lahore to mark the launch of its election campaign and express soladarity with the judiciary. But violence erupted after police moved to Zaman Park to prevent the demonstrators from advancing towards Mall Road as the district administration imposed section 144 of the PPC ahead of the planned rally.
Footage of the clashes, posted on social media by both sides, showed police resorting to use of force against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers and rounding up several protestors. In some video clips, the PTI workers were also seen resorting to violence, such as damaging police vehicles and attacking policemen.
PTI chief
The PTI chairman shared the news of the death of the party worker on social media. “Ali Bilal unarmed & our dedicated & passionate PTI worker murdered by Punjab police,” Imran wrote on Twitter. “Shameful, this brutality on unarmed PTI workers who were coming to attend election rally. Pakistan is in the grip of murderous criminals. We will file cases against IG, CCPO & others for murder.”
However, a spokesperson for the Punjab government denied that Bilal died in the police custody. He claimed that a private vehicle had dropped him at the Services Hospital Lahore, according to CCTV footage gathered from the Punjab Safe City Authority.
