ISLAMABAD: Having learnt about the lukewarm response of police towards the accused of conducting a drag race that killed five and injured two people, the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday directed the Punjab police chief to arrest them all four accused and report in court today (Tuesday).
A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday noted that “prima facie it indicates that without the blessing of police officers it was not possible for the organisers of the race to hold the event”.
The court also expressed displeasure over the case investigations with an observation that the “a perusal of the case indicates that there is no progress so far, and police even have no knowledge of the participants of the race.
Rawalpindi District Coordination Officer (DCO) Imdadullah Bosal informed the bench that he had ‘refused’ to allow the organisers, the Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited being one of them, to hold the race when Atif Sheikh, one of the race organisers, applied for a no objection certificate (NOC).
Similarly, the deputy inspector general (special branch) had also denied granting permission for conducting the race. However, it was Capital Police Officer Rawalpindi Fakhar Sultan, who issued the security plan of the event and the race took place. The Bahria Town management had issued a provisional approval for holding the race.
The DCO further stated that Safdar Salimullah, a representative of Bahria Town had told his staff that the venue of the race had been changed from Bahria Town, Rawalpindi to Islamabad. However, the race was held at the same place, Bahria Town Phase VIII.
To a court query, the CPO conceded to the fact that he had not visited the place of the accident and was unaware about other details of the case. “You issued the security plan without knowing whether the organisers had attained the NOC from the administration,” the CJP observed. Justice Ramday observed that “you (CPO Rawalpindi) are an abettor of these five murders”. The court also grilled the regional police officer (RPO) for not taking any action.
“Have you arrested the chief executive of Bahria Town?” was the question put forth by the CJP for which no one among the administration had any answer. The court was told that Atif Sheikh had gotten bail before being arrested. Tariq Saleem Dogar, the Punjab inspector general stated that the race had no legal permission and it should have been stopped by the administration.
