- Committee chairman appreciates suo motu by CJP on the deadly incident
- Dozens of applications for FIR submitted to PS Nilour against event organisers
Punjab Bar Council (PBC)Human Rights Committee in a meeting here has appreciated Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar’s suo motu on Bahria Enclave incident, where a stage caved in during the recording of a TV show and two people lost their lives and many others were injured.
The meeting was presided by PBC Human Rights Committee Chairman Advocate Sajjad Akbar Abbasi and attended by its member. Advocate Abbasi—who is also member PBC and Rawalpindi District Bar Association President—during the meeting said that in this hour of need, Punjab Bar Council stands with the victims and their families.
“The suo motu by CJP Mian Saqib Nisar is commendable and we hope that the culprits behind the incident will be brought to justice. However, we condemn the negligence on part of local administration and those at Bahria Town as well as the TV channel that was hosting the event. The emergency services and police should have played their part immediately after the incident happened,” said Advocate Abbasi.
Victims of the incident filed multiple applications to register FIR’s against high ups of ARY and Bahria Town, specifically mentioning ARY Zindagi CEO Salman Iqbal and Bahria Town Chairman Malik Riaz.
Six applications for registration of FIR—copies available with Pakistan Today—were submitted by affectees and their relatives namely Muhammad Waqar, Syed Zaheer Abbas Kazmi, Beenish Aslam, Talat Mehmood, Syed Wasim Abbas Kazmi and Zulqarnain Hamid to Nilour police station. All applications briefly narrate the incident and request that an application be registered under section 337 of Pakistan Penal Code that deals with hurt and 349 of PPC that deals with the use of criminal force to restrain a person’s movement.
Following the suo motu notice by the CJP, the victims and their families issued a press release, demanding answers to 13 questions. Some of those questions are as follows:
- Why the lights were turned off after the stage caved in?
- Who’ll be responsible for injuries and deaths?
- Why mainstream media ignored the incident for 10 whole days?
- What commercial, political and other exigencies stopped media from coverage?
- Why there was no mechanism/policy on part of CDA and the city administration in place to act in case of a tragedy of such scale?
The 48 hours given by the chief justice to Islamabad chief commissioner and Islamabad inspector general will end today and the report on the incident will be filed to Supreme Court tomorrow (Monday).
