The Sindh Police has not responded to social media reports of burning the body of Dr. Shah Nawaz, accused of blasphemy, in an alleged police encounter in Umarkot area of Sindh.
Dr Shah Nawaz was accused of uploading insulting material on his Facebook, after which a case was registered against him following protests by local residents.
In the intervening night of September 18 and 19, the news of his death in an alleged police encounter in the limits of Sindri police station of Mirpur Khas district came to light.
The news that his body was not allowed to be buried by the agitators and the body was allegedly set on fire also went viral on social media.
On the news of burning the body of the accused, the Sindh government formed an impartial inquiry committee into the incident on Friday.
According to Sindh Interior Ministry, Sindh Interior Minister Zia-ul-Hasan Linjar contacted Inspector General of Police (IG) Sindh after this incident.
The statement of the spokesperson of the Interior Minister said that Zia-ul-Hasan Linjar directed the IG Sindh to nominate a DIG-rank officer for an impartial inquiry and said that ‘complete investigation and investigation of the incident and investigation should be done impartially. All possible legal action should be ensured while making a deal.’
On this, IG Sindh formed a four-member committee headed by DIG Shaheed Benazirabad to investigate the incident, whose head will be DIG Shaheed Benazirabad Parvez Chandio.
Other members of the committee include DIG Hyderabad Tariq Dharijo, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Badin Shiraz Nazir.
According to the notification, the committee will submit the report within seven days.
Police silence
Independent Urdu contacted Assistant Superintendent of Police (SSP) Umarkot Asif Raza to confirm the news of Dr. Shah Nawaz’s body being cremated, but he refused to comment on it.
However, District Intelligence Branch (DIB) Umarkot in-charge Ghulam Mustafa said that the IG Sindh has formed a high-level inquiry committee on the matter which will investigate all aspects.
“Due to the formation of this committee, the police have been prevented from issuing a statement on any aspect of the case.”
Senior police officer suspended
Sindh Interior Minister Zia-ul-Hasan-ul-Najjar has suspended DIG Mirpurkhas, SSP Mirpurkhas and SHO Sindhri over this incident.
IG Sindh today issued a notification transferring Assistant Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mirpur Khas Captain (Rtd) Asad Ali Chaudhry and asked him to report to Central Police Office Karachi.
In his place, additional charge of Mirpurkhas district was handed over to Assistant Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tharparkar Shabbir Ahmed Sithar.
Police officers involved in extrajudicial killings should be prosecuted.
The Joint Action Committee, a group of human rights defenders and civil society organizations, in a statement strongly condemned the incident as an extra-judicial, custodial death and Sindh Chief Minister, Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. And has demanded a judicial investigation of the incident from the Interior Minister of Sindh.
At a meeting of human rights defenders at the National Commission for Human Rights Sindh office on Friday afternoon, Sindh civil society rejected the police inquiry issued today by the Sindh Home Department and filed an FIR against all police officers. demanded to do.
In a statement, the Joint Action Committee called on the European Commission, the United States and other embassies not to grant visas and scholarships to notorious police officers who are involved in extrajudicial killings and do not respect human rights.
What is the case of blasphemy in Omarkot?
A case of blasphemy was registered against 40-year-old Dr. Shahnawaz, a resident of village Jahenro in Umarkot district, on September 17 in the presence of the imam of the local mosque.
Dr. Shahnawaz was an 18th grade civil servant at Civil Hospital Umarkot. After his trial, he was fired by the hospital’s MS.
After the case was registered, a video statement of Dr. Shahnawaz surfaced on social media in which he said that the Facebook profile from which the offending material was posted is a very old Facebook ID, which he does not use.
“Let the police, FIA or Rangers do their job, everything will become clear,” he said in his video message.
In the intervening night of September 18 and 19, there was news of his death in an alleged police encounter in the limits of Sindri police station of Mirpurkhas district.
Before his death, on September 17 and 18, angry people staged a violent protest against the alleged incident of blasphemy in Umarkot, vandalizing the private clinic of Dr. Shah Nawaz along with setting fire to the police mobile.
After the alleged police encounter, the news that his body was not allowed to be buried by the agitators and allegedly set it on fire also went viral on social media.
After which Sindh Interior Minister constituted an inquiry committee to investigate the incident.
The Human Rights Commission has demanded an investigation into the incident
The Human Rights Commission (HRCP) has expressed deep concern over the alleged extrajudicial killing of two accused of blasphemy in recent days and has demanded an investigation into these incidents.
A statement issued by the HRCP said: ‘A hotel owner was killed in custody in Quetta. After that, the doctor was killed during a police raid in Umarkot.
‘The trend of such violence in blasphemy cases, allegedly involving law enforcement officials, is an alarming situation.
“The government should conduct an independent inquiry to determine those responsible for the death of the doctor in Umarkot and ensure that the culprits are brought to justice.
“The state should deal with the growing extremism, this kind of incidents arise due to the patronage of extremism by the state.”
Garlands of flowers to policemen after alleged police encounter, criticism on social media
After the death of Dr. Shahnawaz, who was nominated in the alleged blasphemy case, by the Mirpurkhas police in an alleged encounter with the police, social media users are criticizing the police after the videos of the police officers garlanding various people have surfaced.
‘Dr Shahnawaz was using psychotropic drugs for many years’
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Ali (pseudonym), a resident of Jahenro village of Dr. Shahnawaz and his close relative, told Independent Urdu on telephone that he was taking psychiatric drugs prescribed by a British doctor. In 2021, he was also under treatment at Dow Hospital in Karachi.
According to Ali: ‘His blood sugar levels were high due to psychiatric drugs. He had an accident some time ago. The wounds were not healing due to diabetes, so they stopped taking the medicine.’
According to Ali: ‘After the trial, the police detained Dr Shah Nawaz’s father and his father told the police that he would be in Sachal Goth or Lyari in Karachi and also gave the mobile numbers of his friends. ‘
According to Ali: ‘Dr. Shah Nawaz’s number was continuously closed. The police traced the numbers of their friends and detained them. After which he said that he was killed in a police encounter.
When the body came to the village, people did not allow the ambulance to enter the village. After which some members of his house took the body to Thar Nabi, Chelhar, Chelband and other cities, but the angry people did not allow the body to be buried.
After which the doctor’s father took his body to his land, where the angry people set the body on fire. The body was 50% burnt, after which the police also reached and after that the half-burnt body was buried.’
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2024-09-21 08:38:42
