Police look to reopen Abad-ul-Rehman case

Keeping in view the increased tension between Pakistan and America, the Investigation Wing of Lahore Police has decided to reopen the case of young Abad-ul-Rehman, who was knocked down and killed by a vehicle of American Consulate in Qartaba Chowk that was trying to save American contractor Raymond Davis, who shot at and killed two youths.
It is learnt that Investigation wing of Lahore Police on Monday has forwarded a fresh letter to the Interior and Foreign Ministry for helping Lahore Police in resolving the matter.
Well-placed sources in Investigation Wing of Lahore Police told Pakistan Today that Civil Lines Investigations SP Capt (r) Malik Liaqat, who has been probing the matter since day one, has written a fresh letter to the Interior and Foreign Minister to remind them about the mishap and has sought permission to take action against those responsible for killing Abad-ul-Rehman. Sources said Liaqat, in his letter, has requested the authorities to grant permission for contacting the officials of American Consulate in Lahore so that they could at least identify the vehicle and the driver involved in knocking down and killing Abad-ul-Rehman. Liaqat also requested the ministries that if they could not allow Lahore Police to contact the American Consulate, then the two ministries should contact American Consulate themselves and ask them to help the police.
SP Investigation in his letter further suggested to the two ministries that if the Government of Pakistan does not want to take any action then the government should handover the case to American government, who should investigate the matter according to its law.
Sources said the letter has been forwarded to the two ministries on Monday by the investigators.
Sources furthermore added that this was not the first letter that investigators had written to the two ministries, adding many letters have been written after every 10 to 15 days but to no avail.
“We are trying to investigate the matter but the ball is not in our court,” Liaqat told Pakistan Today, adding “the Interior and the Foreign Ministry never reply to our letters”.
Another investigator, directly attached with the investigations said the police investigators had obtained all the records regarding the entry of vehicle, which killed Abad, inside the premises of American Consulate, adding that the vehicle bore a fake registration number.
“Nobody knows who was driving the car and for that we need to interrogate the American Consulate officials,” SSP Investigations Abdul Razaq Cheema said while talking to Pakistan Today, adding “the government has not given us the permission to do that”.
“We cannot close the case or dispose it off and we will keep writing to the government till the matter is not resolved,” he said.
It would be important to mention here that Ibad’s family has continued their struggle to get the killers punished according to law. “We will keep fighting till the killers are not punished,” Advocate Ijaz-ul-Rehman said while talking to Pakistan Today, adding “we have being fighting the case since January 22 and we will continue to hold protests outside the American Consulate on weekly basis.”
“Even though everyone has left us and nobody from the government is extending any support, we will not give up. Initially Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MPA Rana Mashood and members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf were helping us, but they have left us also. Only Jamat-e-Islami officials are serious and they have also provided us with a lawyer to fight the case,” he said.
He said the court had ordered the investigators to show progress in the case but nothing had been done in the lost one and half month, adding that the investigators blame the federal government and the federal government blames them. He asked the chief justice to take notice of the issue.