The Supreme Court on Wednesday disposed of a suo motu notice taken into the Badami Bagh incident.
A three-member bench – headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry – heard the case during which the Punjab prosecutor general submitted a report, saying that the case had been registered against Sawan Masih, the blasphemy accused, and 55 others involved in ransacking the neighbourhood. The report said two SHOs, DSPs and the SP had been found involved .
The report added that the area SHO had been removed from his post for his failure to act responsibly.
Punjab IG Aftab Sultan told the court that colonies where non-Muslims were lived were being protected and efforts were being made to make them more secure.
After receiving the report, the SC disposed of the case.
We are all aware of the 8th March incident of Joseph Colony, Badami Bagh. Houses of over 300 Christians were burnt due to one person allegedly committing Blasphemy. The respect and dignity of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is supreme to all Muslims. Although Blasphemy act, intended to protect the respect of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) but in Pakistan it has often been misused and abused for cultural, social and political reasons.
So, Muslims being the majority in Pakistan, because of their sheer love for God and Prophet (PBUH), take Blasphemy seriously and as we have seen in the past, it has caused the masses of Pakistan to take extreme actions against the person responsible for blasphemy and in many cases the entire community of the religious group that person belongs to. For instance, the Gojra incident.
This email is a plea for the court to look at the most vulnerable people who are normally being held responsible for the incidents but need protection the most. Here I refer to some of the police officers, who acted very responsibly with integrity and were trying their very best with the resources available to them to diffuse the situation and act within their jurisdiction. I stress on the “available resources” and will go in detail later in the email.
On 8th March, 2013, after the alleged person had committed blasphemy, a case (FIR) was registered against this alleged person to deal with the matter lawfully. By the evening of the 8th of March, DIG operations, Mr. Rai Tahir was fully aware of the situation. Being the in-charge of operations, he is responsible for analyzing and providing Police force such incidents. Being aware of the facts not only he misjudged the situation and denied the request to provide the necessary backup and heavy police force request by DSP Badami Bagh. The DIG acted carelessly and instead went to an ordinary and unimportant seminar of International Police Operations at 12 mid-night, showing extreme professionalism and risking the life of his men (Police officers) as well as the thousands of people now involved in the incident, leaving behind only 33 police officers to counter an angry and “armed” mob of over 3000 people. (Also the SP City Mr. Multan Khan (with DIG operation) being a senior police officer to DSP and SHO did not provided the required force to meet the critical situation)
I ask the honourable, how can 33 officers; not well equipped for the incident can control an angry and armed mob of over 3000 people? What would you do if you were in this situation? I am sure it is not hard to visualise the incident and predict what was going to happen.
The result is obvious; many men including DSP Khalid Javed were injured. Trying to stop the mob, these brave police officers risked their own lives. The result; DSP Khalid Javed was suspended along with the SHO without any investigation or analysis of the incident. Precautionary measures should have been taken instead of letting things happen. Suspending these officers was not the answer. The answer was very obvious; there should have been at least 3000 police officers at the site to prevent such an unfortunate incident from happening.
I am a PhD student in University of Glasgow, UK. I have never seen even a small protest not heavily managed by the police to prevent unfortunate incidents like this from happening. There are horses, armed police officers, patrols, helicopters etc. Everything possible is done to basically prevent unfortunate incidents. The higher authorities always do a risk analysis of the situation and then police officers and other resources are put in places that not only protect the lives of public but also the police officers. Bear in mind, police officers are not a commodity that should go and stand in from of bullets. Their lives are precious too and utmost measures should be taken to protect their lives as humans as well.
In order to protect DIG as well as SSP, Mr. Sohail Ahmed Sukhera who is responsible for police operations department Lahore was made officer on special duty (OSD) immediately instead of waiting for the court order of March 25th, 2013 now posted as AIG in Central Police Office with fully empowerment in Logistics Department without facing the inquiry.
Now, analyzing the whole situation, it is clear that the very senior police officers, especially DIG Mr. Rai Tahir, SSP Mr. Sohail Ahmed Sukhera as well as SP City Mr. Multan Khan are fully responsible for the incident and the lives and properties of the innocent Christians of Jospeh Colony as despite backup being requested by DSP, these officers overlooked his assessment and went on risking lives of thousands of people. Instead of taking a serious action against these officers the aforementioned, SSP Mr. Sohail Ahmed Sukhera who had been made an OSD in order to protect him from judicial inquiry, now had been deputed on a very attractive seat of additional inspector general (AIG) Logistics without any inquiry by CCPO.
This summary of facts is just my plea to the honourable court and human rights commission of Pakistan to equally provide justice to my father, DSP Khalid Javed who has been suspended. Being the officer on duty on the day as well as the witness to the incident, the least this court can do to provide him the justice is to give him a chance to present himself before the court and give his statement and view on the incident. It would not only bring the reality before the honourable judges but also bring the people responsible for the incident to justice. In this situation, a judicial inquiry must be made to find the accountable and responsible person who did not perform their duties without influencing their powers and holding positions.
Such as the statement given by IG or CCPO in the court, to defend his statement all his subordinate will no undoubtedly support him or follow his orders as well as IG's support to his well-nigh successor (ASPs not the rankers) by immediately posting the SSP Mr. Sohail Ahmed Sukhera to attractive post in the means of saving him from the inquiry or rewarding (while rest of his least subordinates are facing the trial), would be the hurdles to the justice as well as law and order.
I as a son as well as a citizen who protests against every act of injustice in society am going to reach out to Amnesty International so that the justice is brought to people. Please take an action against these people who are really responsible for failing to provide security to people and their own subordinates. Furthermore, to conclude, please give DSP Khalid Javed an opportunity to speak for him and the real details of the incident.
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