LAHORE: Senior police officers who were part of the 2014 Model Town incident declared the Lahore High Court tribunal report “a superficial analysis” rather than a realistic approach.

An officer remarked that the report had been prepared on the basis of public, media and political pressure, setting aside the “genuine narrative” of police.

“We had not launched the operation with ill intentions, rather to maintain public order,” he claimed, adding police only retaliated in self-defence.

He further said the report had not mentioned anywhere the intentions of the charged workers of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) despite knowing that they had taken police officials hostage and subjected them to severe torture.

“I believe the media was also at fault as usual to get ratings. Most news channels had presented distorted facts by editing footages, showing police’s brutality and protesters’ innocence,” he alleged.

The official claimed that police possessed a lot of footage of the charged activists of the PAT who could be seen torturing policemen, but the media deliberately concealed this aspect which prompted the force to retaliate.

“It is a self-contradictory observation and we believe the report will demoralise police force in maintaining law and order,” another senior police officer said on anonymity.

He maintained that the commission had blatantly ignored the armed assault of protesters on police. The commission should have recommended anti-terrorism charges against the protesters who attacked law enforcement agencies.

“Police reacted in self-defence when news spread that a group of charged protesters had killed some officials and taken many of them hostage,” he claimed, adding that the report surprisingly missed this important aspect of the incident.

Police did not act willfully; the situation had become very critical when PAT workers resorted to attacking the police force, a senior officer, who had led the 2014 operation, said.

“It is an incident not a criminal assault,” he said, adding that the law enforcement agencies had immunity to use force for security of lives and properties of the public during such alarming situations. Unfortunately, he said, police in Pakistan were a frail wing of the state.

“We have taken up the issue with the high command of the Punjab police to take serious steps for security of police officers/officials in the wake of the Model Town report becoming public,” said another senior officer.

He said the report had sent a wave of disappointment among police force. Officers identified in the report are expecting a strong reaction against it from the higher authorities to ensure it does not affect the morale of the force.

Note: Police officials quoted in this new story did not want to be named owing to the sensitivity of the matter.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2017