ANP demands impartial probe into alleged police encounter

PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party (ANP) has condemned the alleged police encounter in the Regi village and demanded an impartial investigation into the incident.

The police had claimed killing five alleged terrorists in an encounter in Zagi Ghar area of the Regi village on Friday night. ANP provincial president Aimal Wali Khan said that the fake police encounters culture would push the society towards destruction. He said once again Pakhtuns were targeted through fake encounters which would not be tolerated. The ANP provincial chief said that the “extrajudicial killings” of Pakhtuns was a very dangerous sign. He added that the killing of citizens in Peshawar in alleged fake encounter was barbaric.

The ANP leader said that had the culprits been punished in the Naqeebullah Mehsud incident, the practice would have stopped and the Peshawar incident would not have happened. He said that the accused should be presented before the court and law enforcement institutions had no right to kill them before they could prove their innocence.

“Picking up people from their homes and killing them without following due legal process in police encounters is unbearable,” he said. The ANP leader lamented that those who were raising voice on the social media against this brutality were being threatened. Aimal Wali Khan said that his party would not remain silent on such incidents. He said that police could not punish anyone, adding only courts would decide whether someone was guilty or not. The ANP leader said such incidents could not be stopped unless those who overstep their authority were punished.

He said that his party would support the protesters and would not allow another Rao Anwar in the country. Aimal Wali Khan said that every institutions including the courts should play own role to award punishment to the accused in the extrajudicial killing. He also criticized the government for remaining silent over the alleged injustice.