RAWALPINDI: The two police officials, who were allegedly kidnapped by unidentified activists of religious parties, from the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital on Sunday were found lying alongside a road in Sohan with marks of torture, fractured bones and bruises on Monday, after the sit-in was called off.

Soon after they were found by a police patrol team, the police officials were taken to the DHQ hospital, from where they were kidnapped, for a medical check-up and were later admitted to the hospital.

According to a doctor, the policemen had sustained internal injuries. Sub-inspector Aslam Hayat’s left elbow was fractured and both the men were beaten with plastic coated wire, sticks and batons and had bruises on their bodies.

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After the completion of medico-legal reports, which will indicate the intensity of torture and injuries, further sections of the law will be added in the FIR already registered with the Ganjmandi police on Sunday.

The policemen were at DHQ hospital for postmortems of those killed during Saturday’s clashes when they were abducted

“Both SI Aslam Hayat and Amanat Ali were ruthlessly tortured by the kidnappers and were detained in a makeshift tent in Faizabad after they were kidnapped,” the deputy superintendent of police (city circle) said.

He said the police will record the statements of both men now that they are in better health.

The policemen were accompanying the bodies of people killed during Saturday’s operation to the DHQ hospital so their postmortems can be conducted when they were kidnapped by the protesters. A group of religious protesters had entered the mortuary of the hospital and argued with the SI as he was refusing to write what the protesters wanted him to write. They started beating one of the policemen, dragged him out, beat him again, put him in a car and drove off.

They came back for the other police official, beat him and took him from the mortuary as well. A police constable accompanying the two officials managed to escape.

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The inspector general of police, Punjab, took notice of the kidnapping of SI Aslam Hayat, who is associated with the Homicide Investigation Unit and Amanat Ali, who was assisting him.

Meanwhile, the Sadiqabad police have registered a case against unidentified persons with regards to Saturday’s violence in which seven people were killed and several injured.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of Station House Officer Inspector Zulfiqar Ali under sections for murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, violence and eight other sections of the law though terrorism charges were not mentioned.

According to the FIR, the protesters got violent and set fire to the shops, police and private vehicles and also opened fire which resulted in several deaths and left many injured. In return, the police fired tear gas shells to disperse the violent protesters.

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It says more than 15 police officials were injured during the violence and Constable Waqas Ahmed was kidnapped by the protesters.

The FIR says some people were killed due to gunshots fired by miscreants who were attacking the police. However, neither the main leaders of the religious groups nor the activists were nominated in the case by the police.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2017