Youhanabad probe through judicial commission demanded

LAHORE: Leaders of Pakistan Christian National Party Wednesday demanded the Punjab government to establish a judicial commission to probe attacks in Youhanabad and produce suspects of the lynch mob violence in police custody before the court.
Addressing the media at a press conference Wednesday, Vice Chairman of the party Martin Javed Michael and President Bishop Joseph Francis said the community had been badly affected by the twin suicide blasts on March 15 that claimed lives of 18 persons and injury of 91 people in critical condition. They vehemently condemned the burning alive of two male suspects after attack by mob and warned the public from assuming that the Christian residents of Youhanabad were behind the violence.
Michael and Francis blamed police for negligence during the entire episode and said they should have exercised their writ to prevent mob violence and subsequent riots a day after the attacks. Due to police failure to arrest mobsters, they said Pakistani Christians were being labeled violent. They called for the police to produce the alleged 200 Christian residents of Youhanabad arrested on the basis of suspicion before the court in order to stop innocent citizens from being unfairly implicated.
The Christian leaders criticized Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for not visiting his constituency in the majority Christian locality after the attack and paying a visit to the families of those affected by the blasts, despite making tall claims regarding National Action Plan to curb terrorism in Pakistan. Martin Javed Michael told the press that the two PML-N Christian MPAs, also representing the locality, did not address grievances of protesters and residents, although the area was home to many supporters of the ruling party.
Describing tense security situation in the aftermath, both the leaders told the press that many Christian residents had fled their homes due to fear of reprisal attacks and threats were being delivered via nearby loudspeakers of mosque, urging the Muslims to take revenge for the mob lynching. They criticized statements by Interior Minister Ch Nisar putting more emphasis on the mob violence and not condemning the suicide blasts at the National Assembly session.
Such acts, said Martin, demonstrate that the government is only concerned with Muslims. It should assure minorities of their security and justice for hate crimes. Talking of the two men lynched by a mob, the leaders of the Pakistan Christian National Party said it was assumed that these two were innocent and not linked with the terrorists when indeed this should be established after an inquiry into their backgrounds and relations with the attackers. Referring to the female driver Maryam Safdar, they said her irresponsible driving led to death of three innocent persons and she should be tried for manslaughter by a court.
They demanded that a judicial commission be set up to bring the attackers and their facilitators to book as well as those behind the lynch mob violence. They also stressed that the entire process of police arresting suspects from Youhanabad be made transparent to stop arbitrary detentions.