ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has demanded a thorough probe into storming of a police station and beating up the officials of Punjab Police by Pakistan Army soldiers following the arrest of a soldier of the military’s Special Services Group (SSG) commando for assaulting the policemen during a raid at the residence of his brothers, involved in alleged criminal activities, in Bahawalnagar district.
In a statement issued here, the PTI spokesman Raoof Hasan said the unfortunate bloody clash between the police and the military at Bahawalnagar must be investigated forthwith to identify the culprits instead of providing cover to the perpetrators of this reprehensible incident with its report to be made public without editing.
He termed Bahawalnagar incident a tragic, and very unfortunate as it clearly reflected the “sickness penetrated deep into our social fabric, impacting the functioning of the state” during the last two years.
He said the Bahawalnagar incident - where policemen were hanged upside down by military personnel for assaulting a fellow soldier - shows there existed no constitution and rule of law and the State was fast moving towards anarchy and lawlessness, spoiling the image of the country before the whole world.
“Polarisation of the society among the ‘protected’ and ‘targeted’ factions, with patronage lavished upon the former, has driven a poisonous wedge with ominous consequences,” he added.
He lamented that the Bahawalnagar incident was the worst manifestation of the prevailing established lawlessness in the country and the deep-rooted acrimony and bitterness between the government and state institutions.
He noted that during the last two years, lawlessness and anarchy ruled the roost, as the constitution and law were buried at the State level and a particular group – the military – has been given the status of a “special creature” of being above the law.
He continued that to suppress PTI and keep it out from power, hooliganism was made a fashion which was the reason, ugly incidents like the one which happened in Bahawalnagar, had engulfed all state institutions.
In an obvious reference to Inspector General Police Usman Anwar, who failed to react to the gory incident, the PTI spokesman said that “a handful of touts who, for the sake of their own vested interest, have completely tarnished the image of all the state institutions, which is disgusting.”
PTI spokesperson said that earlier, six judges of Islamabad High Court openly mentioned the “disease and the challenge” confronting the entire system, in their startling letter addressed to Supreme Judicial Council.
“Accentuation of this sinister malady will leave the state dangling in bits and pieces and those who expect to benefit from this divide may end up as the worst affected. Most importantly, it is the state that will be shorn of its legitimacy and rationale for survival,” he added.
He made it clear that the country could not progress even by an inch without establishing rule of law and true justice system in the country.
He asserted that time was rife to ensure that nothing was supreme than the law and the constitution by making those accountable for turning the law of the land as bitches of the riches, to protect their vested interests.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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