Asian Human Rights Commission calls for action against CM, daughter and son-in-law for torture of bakery employee
The employee, who was thrown outside the bakery after torture, received serious injuries including one that has affected his ability to pass urine
CM’s daughter is famous as the ‘lady gangster’, has also beaten up Ayesha Ahad, Hamza Shahbaz’s former wife
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Tuesday called on the public to take action against Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his daughter Rabia Imran over a video of alleged torture of a bakery worker that was leaked online several days ago.
On October 7 at around noon, Mrs Rabia Imran, the ‘lady gangster’ and the daughter of the chief minister of Punjab, visited the Sweet Tooth Bakery in T Block Market, Defence and asked for a cake. The shop was closed and a helper boy was inside cleaning it. Rabia’s driver and guard kept knocking at the door and were finally able to convince the helper to let them in. The boy named Irfan told Rabia that he could not help her since he was just a sweeper and he did not have the permission to sell cakes.
Waving her phone and her finger at him, Rabia got angry and told him that she knew ‘how to deal with’ people like him. She also told him that she was the daughter of Shahbaz Sharif, the incumbent chief minister of the province, and she could do anything.
Some employees of the shop reached the scene and asked her to visit after 3pm when the bakery opened. Rabia became angrier and asked her guard and her driver to ‘take care of them’.
The men who accompanied her came in and abused Irfan, also threatening to kill him for ‘talking too much’.
At around 6:30pm, two private guards, members of the police ‘Elite Force’ and Rabia’s husband, Imran, came to the bakery. It must be mentioned here that the Elite Force’s job is to conduct police encounters, not to escort VVIPs. The video clip then shows Imran slapping Irfan and a police guard pushing the bakery owner to a side. The private guards and the police force members also kick the boy around before finally kidnapping him and taking him to an undisclosed location. Irfan was then thrown outside the bakery in serious condition. His body showed signs of severe torture and the internal injuries that he received because of the kicks have reportedly affected his ability to pass urine.
It must be remembered Rabia Imran was also involved in beating up Ayesha Ahad, the former wife of her brother, Hamza Shahbaz. So far, no case has been filed against her or against her husband for abusing Irfan.
After the issue was raised by the social media and by Pakistan Today, cases were registered against the private guards and the members of Elite Force. The CM, in his Facebook status, said that he had taken action as soon as he was informed of the incident and since he was abroad, he did not know what had transpired. The CM’s daughter and his son-in-law, however, still roam free amongst our midst.
Sources have claimed that the electronic media was “deliberately trying to push the issue under the rug” because of the ‘untiring’ efforts of the CM Secretariat and Public Relations director general. There are also reports of crime programmes from famous TV stations suppressing interviews with Irfan and the bakery owner after receiving the cue from the CM.
Pakistan Today could not reach the bakery owner, Irfan, Defence SHO and others despite repeated attempts. Officials of the CM Secretariat said the CM had ‘taken action’ and avoided answering questions about the demands being made for the arrest of the CM’s daughter and her husband.
In a statement on their website, AHRC appealed to the public to take action against the chief minister by writing the letters to authorities calling on them to arrest and prosecute the daughter and son-in-law of the CM. The AHRC also urged the authorities to take strong action against the policemen involved in the case and also prosecute the station head officer of the Defence police station for not performing his duty according to law and refusing to file a case against the perpetrators. The AHRC also added that it is writing a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the question of torture calling for his intervention into this matter.