LAHORE Despite lifting of a moratorium on death penalty, Lahore Police ‘decided’ the fate of a security guard on their own through an `encounter’ on Thursday. Ghulam Abbas, former security guard of a car market on Maulana Shaukat Ali Road, had killed three traders, including chairman of the union, on Wednesday when he had an exchange of hot words with them for sacking him and not paying his dues. Though police officers claimed that the security guard was killed in a genuine encounter as he had came to the car market again to kill two more traders, sources in police and circumstantial evidence suggested the guard was in custody before being shot dead. On Wednesday, the Punjab chief minister taking notice of the incident had ordered the Lahore CCPO to arrest the criminal. The CCPO formed four police teams to arrest the killer that raided the hometown of the accused in Narowal. Sources claimed that Ghulam Abbas and his brother were arrested on Thursday morning. CIA police, however, claimed that Ghulam Abbas was not in arrested and they got information the accused guard was planning to kill more traders. A special police team was deputed at the car market to foil his attempt. As he reached there in a car (LEH-6939) carrying a Kalashnikov at around 4:45pm on Thursday, the CIA team asked him to surrender but he opened fire. The police retaliated resultantly he was killed. The front screen of the car was riddled with bullets. Later, the body was removed to morgue for autopsy. SSP Investigation Rana Ayyaz Saleem denying the charges of a staged encounter claimed the guard was a proclaimed offender in two murder and one attempted murder cases. He claimed that the forensic psychology of the criminal suggested that he used to return to the scene after committing the crime. Keeping in view the modus operandi, a special team of CIA was deputed for screening. He said that the police had also extracted information from a person who arranged a Kalashnikov for him. To a question, Rana Ayyaz said that police had first warned him to surrender but he opened fire and the police had to retaliate. About the FIR against the Faisal Town SHO under Section 155-C of Police Order, the SSP said that the SHO was found negligent on a number of accounts. The SHO had not verified the identity of the guard who was hired by traders privately. The guard was also a PO in murder cases and the SHO was informed about his nefarious designs through an application but he did not entertain the application. He said Abbas’ brother was also a PO and he was also in police custody. Meanwhile, the activists of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan condemned the killing of the security guard in an encounter. They said the crime committed by the guard was heinous and highly condemnable but the police had no authority to decide the fate of a criminal in the presence of a judicial system. Legal experts have termed it a sheer violation of the orders of Lahore High Court against extra-judicial killings. They said that the security guard was not a terrorist. The police should have known the motive behind his extreme step and then he should have been prosecuted under legal system.
The chairman of Judicial Activism Panel, Azhar Sidique, said that a judicial inquiry into the encounter should be conducted by a judge of the Lahore High Court. He said that there is no provision in law for custodial killings. The government could have prosecuted the culprit through speedy trial. Ansar Burney Trust International chairman Ansar Burney said that judicial inquiry into the incident should be conducted to discourage extra-judicial killings. He said that the act of the security guard was inhuman and brutal but killing him in an encounter was not justified at any cost. He reiterated that he had no sympathy with the accused guard but nobody should be allowed to challenge the judicial system.
