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2014-06-19 India-Pakistan
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Lahore clash: Who caused the bloodshed?
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[DAWN] Who ordered the firing on the supporters of Dr Tahirul Qadri
...Pak politician, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him...
in Model Town? As the question was repeatedly asked on Tuesday, there was no straight answer from the police.
No immediate action against coppers leading the operation suggests that the 'top man' of the province might have given the 'go-ahead'.
Senior coppers associated with the anti-encroachment operation in and around Pakistain Awami Tehrik (PAT) chairman Tahirl Qadri's residence and near-by Minahjul Koran Secretariat adopted a defensive strategy. They put the entire blame on the PAT activists for resisting the drive and attacking coppers.
Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Chaudhry Shafique Ahmad told news hounds at the Central Police Office that police remained defensive for several hours against PAT activists.
The incident came at a time when its chairman had already announced his June 23 Pakistain visit for a series of demonstrations countrywide. This made it easy for PAT workers to project the raid as politically-motivated. However,
denial ain't just a river in Egypt...
the coppers leading the operation denied any pre-planned move against the PAT. They claimed they were assisting City District Government of Lahore (CDGL) officials in removing barriers from roads leading to the PAT premises.
The anti-encroachment action in this case came at an odd moment, at midnight contrary to the routine morning raids.
The CDGL staff was accompanied by the police in large numbers which was also unusual.
Interestingly, in this instance not even a single police official was immediately held responsible for mishandling and criminal negligence. This is contrary to the past practices when the chief minister had ordered summery suspension of officers accused of negligence or excess.
According to a neighbour, he had been seeing barriers and bunkers outside two PAT places for the last three years or so. He said coppers were also routinely seen guarding barriers.
A police source, who was present at the scene of the crime, told this news hound that PAT activists first pelted CDGL and police officials with stones to resist the removal of barriers and then some gunshots fired in air by PAT activists present in bunkers forced the coppers to run away.
He claimed later on the directive of a police brass hat, police began straight fire on PAT workers.
The source added some seven or eight divisional SPs were also seen commanding the force with divided strategy as some put focus on straight fire and others insisted dispersing activists through other means.
The CCPO, now made OSD, claimed that they held two negotiations round with the chief security officer of Minahjul Koran Institute in the morning, asking him to remove hurdles on their own. PAT activists deployed at roofs and bunkers again started firing at police and CDGL officials. He claimed activists also used patrol bombs against police, but police kept showing patience.
He said police resorted to baton charge and used shelling which helped CDGL officials to remove hurdles.
Mr Ahmad, who initially claimed that killings might be the result of firing by PAT activists, later said he could not determine at this point who killed who, adding the judicial inquiry and police investigation would fix the responsibility. Inspector General Mushtaq Sukhera said a three-member departmental committee had been constituted to determine criminality of any police official.
Faisal Town police lodged a case against seven nominated people, including general-secretary Khurram Nawaz Gandapur and Sheikh Fayyaz and CSO Altaf Shah, eight unidentified gunnies and hundreds of unidentified workers. 
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Posted by Fred 2014-06-19 00:00||
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