LAHORE: Moving scenes were witnessed at Jinnah Hospital on Tuesday which attended more than 90 injured, including 24 policemen, in the wake of a clash at the Minhajul Quran secretariat in Model Town.

Many of those rushed to the hospital had serious injuries, some treated for fractures in skull and other parts of the body. The hospital was deluged by men and women looking for relatives and friends.

Eyewitnesses told Dawn they had been subjected to extreme police brutality that had no example in the history. “They spared no one; men, women and children were all their target,” said Ghulam Mustafa, who lost a brother, Ghulam Rasool, in the police firing at the Minhaj.

“The atrocity can’t be explained in words.”

He said his brother was hit in the chest by a bullet fired by a policeman and died on the spot.

Some women were seen standing in shock near the body of 14-year-old Mohammad Umar in the emergency hall of the hospital. Umar was hit by two bullets and died instantly.

Moving scenes as hospital receives the dead and injured of Model Town incident

An official of the hospital administration said more than 50 patients shifted to Jinnah Hospital had sustained firearm injuries. He said seven people were received dead at the emergency and the cause of death in all these cases was firearm injuries followed by massive bleeding.

The official said that of the total 24 injured policemen who were brought to the hospital two had suffered bullet wounds.

He said more than 20 out of the total injured people were in a critical condition and shifted to the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) or operation theatres.

After the incident, the hospital was thronged by PAT supporters from Lahore and adjacent areas. Some of them continuously chanted slogans against the Punjab chief minister, the law minister and police.

A young woman named Sadaf told Dawn her cousin, Shazia, and sister-in-law Tanzila had been shot dead in the incident and she was an eyewitness to their “murder”.

According to Sadaf, she had accompanied Tanzila, her husband, Shazia and a few others, from Shalimar Town to the Minhaj premises after they learnt about the raid on Tuesday morning. Tanzila and Shazia were protesting outside the residence of Dr Tahirul Qadri when they were “targeted by the police”. “Policemen sprayed them with bullets from a close range,” she said.

“I lost my senses for a while as I saw bullets striking them,” Sadaf said.

“Shazia died on the spot because of massive bleeding while Tanzila succumbed to her wounds later. The policemen did not spare even the dying women. Two policemen rushed towards them and bundled them into an official van.”

Sadaf said the policemen had arrested her brother and she was worried about his safety.

Tanzila’s husband Ghulam Mustafa said the protest against the removal of barriers was going on peacefully when the police personnel suddenly advanced and fired tear gas shells in an attempt to disperse the crowd.

The police then retreated, only to recharge at the protesters a little while later. As the protesters pelted stones, the law enforcers replied by firing indiscriminately at the crowd.

PAT Lahore Secretary-General Sultan Mahmood Chuadhry, who was among the injured and admitted to Jinnah Hospital, told Dawn he was hit with the butts of the gun when he tried to rescue two co-workers.

Junaid, who received bullet injuries, said the policemen wanted to enter the Minhajul Quran students’ hostel. “When we resisted, they fired upon us.”

Haroon Ahmad, a civil engineer, said bullets hit him in both his legs as he tried to stop the police’s ransacking of the house of Dr Qadri.

Haroon’s mother Kalsoom said: “We have been attacked because we want to change the system.”

Amjad Iqbal, being treated at the hospital for bullet wounds, said: “We came out for the rights of people of Pakistan. We will fight against the system with all that we have.”

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2014