Gulberg Police registered a case of murder against Mian Amer Mehmood, the chief executive of Dunya News and chairman of the Punjab Group of Colleges, and 63 other officials of the Punjab Group of Colleges late on Wednesday night.
The case was registered on the complaint of Muhammad Nawaz Warraich, a resident of Canal View, against Mian Amer, Dr Sohail Afzal, Tahir Aagha, Major (r) Saleem and 60 other unidentified people.
Warraich claimed in his complaint that his two daughters Farah Nawaz and Zainab Nawaz were students of the Punjab Group of Colleges and on January 9, he dropped them both off to attend a cultural show organised by the college administration where both sustained serious injuries along with dozens of other girls in a stampede. He said Farah later died at Services Hospital while Zainab was discharged after treatment. He said in his complaint that the people he had named were responsible for the death of his daughter, so police registered a case against them.
Dunya News Bureau Chief Salman Ghani told reporters that the case was registered by the police on the instructions of the Punjab government in order to stop Dunya News from telling the truth about it and exposing its misdeeds, especially the negligence of the Punjab government in the spurious drugs scandal.
All unions of journalists, including Lahore Press Club (LPC), Federal Union of Journalists (FUJ) and Punjab Union of Journalists (PUJ), condemned the Punjab government for the alleged victimisation. LPC President Sarmad Bashir condemned the act and said the PUJ would protest on Thursday (today) on the instructions of the FUJ. He said the LPC would support the PUJ’s protest rally.
In a late night development, the Punjab government directed Punjab Police to suspend the first information report (FIR) against Mian Amer and the others. Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told reporters that the case registered against Mian Amer and others was illegal as police could not register two cases of one incident. He said the home secretary had conducted an enquiry earlier in which he held former Model Town Division superintendent of police (SP) Malik Awais responsible for the incident in which the girl lost her life. On the recommendation of the home secretary, he said, the Punjab government had transferred and suspended Awais, who later got the case registered against Mian Amer and others.
He said the Punjab government had ordered Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Maj Mubashar Ullah to conduct an enquiry into the negligence of police in this regard.
Mian Amer later on called the presidents of all unions of journalists and thanked them for their cooperation.
Police register murder case against Mian Amer, 63 others
