PESHAWAR:
Many were injured on Friday when police and protesters clashed in the Tehkal area of the provincial capital as the latter demonstrated against the former’s excesses.
The clashes came even as the government wrote to the provincial judiciary asking it to investigate reports of police detaining an Afghan national, stripping and parading him naked and then torturing him for abusing officers in a video.
Several protests and rallies were held across the province on Friday to protest the torture of Rafiullah alias Amir of Tehkal.
The largest protests were held in the Tehkal area, outside the Peshawar Press Club and in front of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly building. Protesters filled the road from Saddar to the press club and blocked it from all traffic. Former member of Awami National Party (ANP) provincial assembly Alamgir Khan Khalil and members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Youth Wing also participated in the protest.
They held up banners denouncing police brutality and filming a detainee in a compromised position and then leaking the videos. Chanting anti-police slogans and demanding a judicial inquiry into the matter, they kept the road closed for nearly two hours.
As the protesters approached the provincial assembly, they were charged by the police with rioting. At this point, the protesters started throwing stones at the police officers.
To disperse the crowd, the police resorted to firing tear gas canisters.
The clashes left dozens of protesters and police officers injured.
Meanwhile, protests against police excesses were also held in Mardan, Swabi, Bajaur, Charsadda, Nowshera, Malakand, Lower and Upper Dir, Swat and other southern districts. Lawyers, social workers, students and local political leaders participated in these protests.
Judicial investigation
In a media briefing at the Information Cell of the Civil Secretariat on Friday, Adviser to KP Chief Minister for Information Ajmal Wazir said the provincial government has written to the Peshawar High Court Registrar to appoint a judge to head a judicial commission of inquiry. The Tehkal incident under the KP Court of Inquiry Ordinance.
Wazir said that soon after the video went viral on social media, the provincial government had taken immediate action by suspending and booking the four policemen involved, including an SHO. Also, the SSP operation was removed from his post.
In the judicial commission, he confirmed that the PHC had been requested to form the inquiry body. He added that the agency will be tasked with identifying those responsible for the incident and that they will later be prosecuted according to the law.
Noting that the commission has been asked to complete its investigation within 15 days, Wazir said the government will make the investigation public.
However, the advisor urged the public not to vilify the entire police department because of the actions of a few.
“The misdeeds and misdeeds of a few personnel should not be blamed on the entire police department,” he said, reiterating the huge sacrifices made by the provincial police in the war on terror, apart from serving on the front lines against the novel coronavirus (Covid). -19) pandemic.
Published in The Express Pakinomist, June 27th2020.
