ISLAMABAD: Despite an attack on one of their own, the capital city’s police department seems hesitant to proceed against suspects — who assaulted an on-duty constable and fled, leaving behind a vehicle filled with contraband items — because they are said to be backed by ‘a powerful figure’.

On Thursday night, around 8pm, Constable Fazal Malik was part of a Rescue-15 patrol team that was manning a picket in F-11 Markaz, when he saw a car blocking traffic on the busy thoroughfare. A white BMW had stopped in the middle of the road and was holding up traffic, so Constable Malik decided to find out what the problem was.

However, when he approached the vehicle and asked its two occupants what seemed to be the problem, the two men turned hostile and assaulted the police officer, tearing off his uniform.

The two men also summoned help and all together, a group of eight men brutally assaulted Constable Malik in the middle of the markaz.

When the constable’s colleagues down the road noticed the commotion, they ran to his aid, prompting the assailants to flee while abandoning their car in the middle of the road. According to police officials, the men first tried to start their car, but it had stalled, forcing them to flee on foot.

The constable — who also suffered multiple injuries, including a fracture to his left hand — was shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) for treatment on Thursday night.

Police impounded the vehicle at the Shalimar police station, where a search of the vehicle yielded at least three crates of liquor.

A case was also registered under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, by Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Ghulam Murtaza on the basis of the constable’s statement.

Among the charges, Section 353 deals with ‘Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty’, while Section 186 refers to ‘Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions’.

However, in the interim, officials probing the matter received a call from someone sources described as an ‘influential person’, following which the vehicle was returned to F-11 Markaz, from where it was recovered.

Constable Malik told Dawn that after the incident, two men came and tried to take the car away, but both were arrested and handed over to Shalimar police along with the vehicle.

However, both men were released from the police station within a few hours, he added.

“When I visited the police station [on Friday], I saw the accused sitting in the office of one of my senior officers, who was giving him full protocol,” the constable said, adding that when he asked the investigating officer to arrest the men, he reassured him by saying that a raiding party had been dispatched to do so.

“I told the IO that the accused were sitting in the officer’s room, but he ignored me,” he said, adding that he also complained to the officer in question, but received no response.

The Shalimar police station house officer was not available for comment, despite repeated attempts. ASI Ghulam Murtaza, the investigating officer, told Dawn that police were making efforts to arrest the accused. When asked why the men had not been arrested when they came to the police station, as per the constable’s statement, he replied, “I have no information about this”.

When asked why two men and the vehicle had been released, he said that the car was still in police custody. When pressed to reveal where the car was being held, he replied it was parked in F-11 Markaz.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2015

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