Youth humiliation in police custody echoes in KP Assembly

PESHAWAR: The humiliation of a youth, Aamir Tehkalay, in police custody echoed in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday as the opposition members said striping someone of clothes and uploading his video on social media was an inhuman and shameful act.

In a debate on the demands for grants for police Nighat Orakzai of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) condemned the suspension of Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations) Zahoor Babar Afridi and questioned why the station house officer of Agha Mir Jani Shah Police Station had not been arrested so far. She said chief minister summoned the Inspector general of police (IGP). The man who used abusive language against the police deserved punishment as per law but what the police did was a shameful act and a misuse of authority, added the PPP lawmaker.

In his response, Law Minister Sultan Muhammad said the chief minister had already taken action and decided to get a judicial inquiry into the incident conducted through a high court judge. He said First Information Report (FIR) against SHO of Tehkal and others has been lodged and those found guilty in the judicial inquiry would be brought to justice. The minister said black sheep in the police should be removed to restore the image of the force, which has rendered tremendous sacrifices in the war on terror.

The parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Sardar Yousaf, said the allocation of Rs47 billion for police was an injustice with the people of this province. “The Tehkal incident has exposed the police and its performance,” he added. Bahadur Khan of the Awami National Party (ANP) said police misbehaved with the public during the lockdown, arrested poor pushcart owners then released them after getting bribe.

Mian Nisar Gul of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) said that the police had implicated in false cases the people in Karak who had staged a sit-in for their rights. Waqar Khan of the ANP said police misbehaved with people on check- posts. He suggested that the polite staff should be deputed at these posts. The ANP parliamentary leader Sardar Babak said the Tehkal incident had earned a bad name for the police force though the force is better than those of other provinces.

Sardar Babak said the government should bring Police Act in the House for discussion and model police stations should be established. “Taliban are sitting in mountains, traders are getting threatening calls for extortions but nobody is listening to their complaints,” he deplored. The ANP leader said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had been ruling the province for seventh years but did not correct the curriculum, which needed a review.

Inayatullah Khan of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) said as per Police Act 2017, the IGP had to call all the regional police officers and district police officers for annual planning but that was never done. He said the implementation Commission had not been constituted as well. He said a school teacher was arrested in Khyber district and then allegedly killed in lock-up. In Charsadda, he added, the district police official allegedly kidnapped a boy from Shabqadar, who had uploaded on social media a video clip wherein he had said that he had many secrets of the DPO. He said the Tehkal incident was another worst example of police excesses. Naeema Kishwar of the Muttahida Majilis-e-Amal demanded separate desks at the police stations for women, children and shemales.

Sanaullah of the PPP complained “ice” (methamphetamine) smugglers were destroying the youth future in Dir but nobody had bothered to take them to task. The members lashed out at the government for the financial crisis in universities of the province. They said universities have increased fees manifold, which is depriving poor students of higher education as the government has no plan for how to run the varsities, they added. The House approved all the demands for grants by bulldozing the opposition cut motions. Thus the budget was passed before the deputy speaker Mehmood Jan adjourned the session till 2 pm today (Friday). Finance bill was also passed.