Former DPO Waqar Chauhan to appear in court

SIALKOT: The former District Police Officer Sialkot, Waqar Chauhan was arrested on Tuesday and is expected to appear in court tomorrow in connection to the Sialkot lynching case.

Five other police officials will also be presented in court along with the former DPO. However, prime accused in the lynching of two brothers, SHO Rana Ilyas, has managed to evade custody along with one other police officer involved in the brutal killing.

Earlier, Justice (retd) Kazim Malik, who was given the task to conduct an inquiry into the lynching stated that the Supreme Court would start its hearing of the case on September 1. Justice Kazim added that statements of 101 people, who were directly or indirectly linked to the case, have been recorded. He added that it would be upto the apex court to decide on whether they want to make the report public or not.

DPO held under house arrest, Rescue 1122 pleads innocence

SIALKOT: Former Sialkot district police officer Waqar Ahmed Chohan has been placed under house arrest here for 30 days.

He was detained by the Sialkot police on Monday on charges of negligence and for failing to stop the merciless lynching of the teenage brothers on August 15. According to reports, the new DPO is residing in the civil rest house in Sialkot.

The inquiry commission constituted to probe the barbaric incident of lynching of two brothers in Sialkot will submit its report to the Supreme Court (SC) today (Thursday).

Meanwhile, Director General Rescue 1122 Punjab Dr Rizwan Naseer claimed that the rescue centre is not responsible for negligence, as they tried to contact the police but they did not arrive promptly.

While speaking at a press conference in Sialkot, Rizwan Naseer said that the rescue team had put their lives on the line to protect the two brothers who were killed by the mob.

The Director General said that a cleric had brought the two teenagers to his office and were given full protection. He also claimed that the two boys had demanded that they be handed over to the police.

JI, PTI announce demonstrations

14 arrested in Sialkot lynching case

Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that 14 people including four policemen have been held in the brutal public killing of two brothers in Sialkot.

Addressing the media in Sialkot, Malik said the culprits involved in the heinous crime would be duly punished. He appealed to the citizens of Sialkot to come forward and provide any information they had regarding the incident. He added that authorities have compiled a list of names of those under investigation and the federal government will be providing support in terms of intelligence and logistics as investigations continue.

Strike announced

Jamaat-e-Islami leader Liaqat Baloch also visited the family of the two brothers who were beaten to death by a mob in Sialkot. He said the party has announced a nationwide strike on Friday against this atrocity.

Updated from print edition (below).

Prime suspect SHO Rana Ilyas escapes from custody

The prime accused in the lynching of two brothers in Sialkot, SHO Rana Ilyas, managed to evade custody on Saturday and is currently at large. Ilyas, who fled from the office of the DSP Sialkot, was brought to the office so that he could be produced before a court for a judicial remand.  The District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sialkot, Mujahid Sher Dil, has confirmed that the lynched youths had no criminal record. Sher Dil held the Sialkot police responsible for the incident as police officials witnessed the whole incident as silent spectators.

Police claimed to have arrested two police officers and five others who were present at the time the two brothers were beaten to death in public. Police contingents also stepped up efforts to apprehend six other officers who witnessed the murder but made little attempt to stop the mob.

Sialkot sinks in rain water

Heavy rainfall has led to crisis in the Sialkot district, as dozens of trees were recently uprooted and fell on the main roads including under construction passages. The Daska-Gujranwala Road, Sialkot-Pasrur Road, Sialkot-Sambrial-Wazirabad Road, Pasrur-Narowal Road and adjoining areas remained blocked for several hours on Wednesday.

The rain has severely compromised electricity and communication systems in the district as power supply remained suspended for several hours in urban and rural areas throughout the district. “It feels like the city is flooded, there is no where to walk and several houses have been completely destroyed,” Pasrur resident Karimullah said.

The downpour started early on Wednesday morning and continued throughout the day. After the prevailing heat-wave in the district, locals have expressed relief at cooler temperatures following the rain. “We can never really enjoy the rain, because it always means floods and damage but it is a relief from the heat,” Sambrial resident Shabana said. “The day has been dark and cloudy and the rain has caused a halt in regular activity but I am still grateful for the rains,” she said. The rainfall has affected all low-lying urban and rural areas in the Sialkot region, paralyzing normal life. “Despite all the problems, people still always come out in the flooded streets to enjoy the rain,” resident Shahnawaz said.

CJ lauds parliament for correcting historic wrong

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Tuesday praised the parliament for undoing a wrong done by the legislature in 1985 (through a constitutional amendment) when it removed the word ‘freely’ from a clause of the Objectives Resolution that upheld the minorities’ right to practice their religion.

“Nobody has the right to tamper with the basic document,” the chief justice observed. He is heading a 17-judge full court hearing petitions against certain clauses of the 18th Amendment, including the limits of parliament’s right to amend the Constitution.

“It is strange that not even a single member in the 1985 National Assembly noticed the mistake and allowed the 8th Amendment to pass just like that,” the chief justice observed.

Inflating Pakistan’s football industry

KARACHI: Soccer or football is the most popular sport in the world. And for many, this means great economic opportunity. At one time, Pakistan’s export city of Sialkot was catering to 85 per cent of the total world demand for high-quality hand-stitched inflatable balls.

A workforce of 85,000 was employed to produce 60 million balls per year worth $210 million. In Fifa World Cup years the demand for stitched balls rises by 70 per cent. Consecutive governments however, ignored this industry and failed to plan ahead to tackle the growing competition from China, India and Japan.

For a long time this vital industry also faced criticism from European countries and especially from United States with allegations of using child labour. The Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry took prompt measures to curb child labour from the soccer ball industry in accordance with the Atlanta Agreement signed with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Unicef in February 1997.