- Health secretary told to present autopsy records and medico-legal reports of injured before enquiry commission
- Punjab Police spokesperson denies IG wrote letter to CM in which he had refused to arrest policemen responsible for opening fire on PAT protesters
The one-person judicial commission comprising Justice Ali Baqir Najfi on Saturday summoned former law minister Rana Sanaullah and former principal secretary to the chief minister, Dr Tauqeer Shah to appear before the commission on Monday (tomorrow) for recording their statements.
The commission enquired why Rana Sanaullah had been asked to step down from office and whether there had been any progress in ascertaining as to who had ordered police to open fire on the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers in which over 12 people lost their lives and more than 80 others had suffered serious injuries.
The commission also summoned the health secretary to submit the autopsy records and medico-legal reports of the victims. Regarding the possibility of the constitution of a joint investigation team to probe the clashes, the commission asked for a report from the Punjab home secretary. Furthermore, the Baitul Maal secretary has been directed to discuss compensation payments for the victims with the tribunal.
POLICE DENY IG WROTE LETTER TO CM:
Meanwhile, Punjab Police Spokesperson Nabeela Ghazanfar told Pakistan Today there was no truth in claims made by a private news channel on Saturday that Punjab Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Sukhera had written a letter to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif stating that he would not arrest the policemen responsible for opening firing on the PAT workers.
“There is absolutely no truth in this claim,” said Nabeela.
A senior official of the Special Branch also denied that the Punjab IG had written any such letter to the CM, but he said that his department was preparing a list of the policemen who had fired their weapons during the clash with the political workers. He said that video footage of the incident was acquired from several private news channels to identify such policemen.
On Saturday afternoon, a private news channel had claimed that IG Mushtaq Sukhera had told Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif that the policemen responsible for opening fire at PAT protesters were “simply following orders” therefore he could not arrest them. The channel did not say whether the IG had specified in the letter as to who had ordered his men to open fire.
The bloodshed on Tuesday took place outside the Central Secretariat of Minhajul Quran International in the Model Town neighbourhood. The clashes erupted in the early hours of June 17 and continued for up to 14 hours.
The standoff began when a police team tried to remove barriers outside Minhaj leader Dr Tahirul Qadri’s residence and Minhajul Quran’s Central Secretariat in guise of an anti-encroachment campaign.
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Friday told law minister Rana Sanaullah and principal secretary to chief minister, Dr Tauqeer Shah to step down from their offices to pave the way for ‘transparent investigation’ into the incident. However, the move was termed “ridiculous” by Dr Qadri who said that Sharif should have been the first one to resign from his office followed by other members of his team.