LAHORE: Inspector General Police (IGP) Punjab, Dr Usman Anwar on Saturday rejected the claims by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) pertaining to the alleged custodial killing of a PTI worker, saying the incident was purely an “accident case” which, he said, was “unfortunately misinterpreted” publicly.
A PTI worker, Ali Bilal, alias Zille Shah, died while several others were injured and many picked up on March 8 as the interim Punjab government used force to stop a rally called to launch the PTI campaign for the April 30 elections in the province. The party blamed the provincial administration for the death.
On Friday, Punjab police claimed to have arrested two suspects, identified as Umar and Jehanzeb, who claimed that Bilal sustained multiple injuries after he was involved in an accident with their vehicle.
PTI leadership’s claims
The PTI leadership claims Shah was tortured and killed while in police custody. The claims of torture were also corroborated by Bilal’s postmortem report, issued by the Mayo Hospital. It claimed the victim was subjected to “massive blunt trauma”, while a fracture to his skull and subsequent bleeding were cited as the cause of death. The report also noted damage to his spleen, liver and testes, which led to profuse bleeding.
In a press conference in Lahore today (Saturday), the senior provincial cop along with caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi denied the involvement of provincial administration in the death. “The evidence clearly suggests that this is an accident case,” the IG added.
Narrating the incident, the police chief said “the body of an innocent person was brought to the Services Hospital by a black Vigo vehicle at 6:52pm [on Wednesday].” He said the suspects “clearly looked tense” as seen in the CCTV footage.
“They also tried to save the victim at one point, and then transported the injured to the Services Hospital. Then the manner in which the incident was misinterpreted was quite unfortunate,” the senior cop lamented. He said the owner of the vehicle had been identified as Raja Shakeel, who is vice president of the Central Punjab PTI.
IGP Punjab kept insisting that people aboard the car were not criminals as, according to him, they tried to save the injured person after hitting him. However, he said, false messages and videos were posted on the social media to portray the administration and police in a bad light. The Punjab IG said the car involved in the accident was traced through the help of 31 CCTV cameras.
The interim CM also called out the PTI for alleging the administration and the police involvement in the case. He lamented that PTI’s Yasmin Rashid proceeded with a press conference targeting the administration and police despite knowing facts. “Those who were aboard the vehicle told everything to Yasmeen Rashid, but PTI kept on blaming the provincial administration,” said the CM. He also claimed that the victim’s father was also offered money to parrot the false narrative behind the death. He also categorically denied that the police were given any directions to torture workers of a particular political party.
Mohsin Naqvi said elections in the province were approaching near and added any deterioration in the law and order would hamper peace in the province. During the press briefing, the confessional video statements of the two suspects, who are currently under police custody, were also played.
