IG forms board to check staged encounters
LAHORE, June 28: Punjab Police Inspector General Javed Iqbal has formed a 10-member board to check staged encounters.
Chuhng Police Training School Principal DIG Mubashar Ullah will head the board as well as the Inspection and Vigilance Cell already established in 10 regions of Punjab.
DIG Mubashar Ullah told Dawn that the board had been formed on the direction of the Lahore High Court chief justice and it would help ensure a complete check on staged encounters.
According to a handout issued on Tuesday, members of the Inspection and Vigilance Cell of each region would be responsible for monitoring staged police encounters. Families of those killed in staged encounters could approach the cell or the board for probes. The IG would take action against the guilty policemen in the light of the probes.
The board head would keep Punjab Additional IG (Investigation) Azam Joiya updated about complaints and final reports. Board members are SSP Usama Mumtaz Raja for Lahore region, SP Muhammad Kashif for Sheikhupura region, SP Munir Masood Marth for Gujranwala region, Chief Traffic Officer Dr Muhammad Azam for Rawalpindi region, Punjab Highway Patrol SSP Kamran Yousaf Malik for Faisalabad region, SSP Ghazi Salahuddin for Sargodha region, SP Muhammad Younas Butt for Sahiwal region, SSP Maqsood Ahmad Khichi for Multan region, SP Gohar Mushtaq Bhutta for DG Khan region and SP Shaukat Murtaza Malhi for Bahawalpur region.
DIG Mubashar Ullah said complaints could be filed with the board against past police encounters. He said the police department had no record of encounters in Punjab, but according to media reports 275 police encounters took place in the last two years or so. —Staff Reporter
(Daily Dawn)
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