SAHIWAL: Ghala Mandi police took the younger brother of a man who was declared a proclaimed offender by the court months back.

The family of the youth, Waqas Ahmed, brother of proclaimed offender Wahab Ahmed, said the former was picked up by police from his grocery shop on Wednesday.

They said they had no knowledge of whereabouts of Wahab who was booked in a bounced cheque case three months back. They alleged the police officials had picked Waqas from his printing shop in the Pasha Street against the law as he was not wanted in any case. Later, the police booked him in a fake case. They demanded the inspector general of police hold an inquiry into the case.

However, the first information report (FIR), registered by the police, said Waqas was travelling with his brother, Wahab, on motorcycle. When police tried to arrest Wahab, Waqas helped him escape.

Ghala Mandi Station House Officer Imdad Baloch denied the allegations of the fake FIR leveled by the suspect’s family, saying the suspect was arrested for harbouring a proclaimed offender.

BODY FOUND: The body of a 30-year-old man who had gone missing four days back was found in the fields of Chak 114/9-L in the Kameer police area.

Waheed Bakhsh had been missing for the last four days. The locals found his body in the maize field on Thursday.

Kameer police said he was murdered and wanted to send the body to hospital for a post-mortem. The family claimed Waheed had died of natural causes but the police insisted it was a murder case. As the tension between both parties intensified, the family of the deceased held a protest on the Sahiwal-Arifwala Road and kept it blocked for two hours while refusing to hand over the body for autopsy.

Later, the police succeeded to take the body from the protestors and shift it to DHQ Teaching Hospital for a post-mortem.

Police said the post-mortem report would arrive on Friday and it would confirm the cause of death.

MUSHARRAF: The Sahiwal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Pakistan Zindabad Movement have criticised the death sentence to retired Gen Pervez Musharraf by the court that found him guilty of high treason and imposition of emergency in 2007.

Chamber president Fasil Ikram and Pakistan Zindabad Movement Chairman Shaikh Ijaz held a joint press conference at a hotel on Thursday.

Mr Ijaz said the army stood by the nation in every crisis the court’s decision against Musharraf was highly condemnable. He said a mass contact and mobilisation campaign would be started against the special court’s decision.

He said the masses would not accept special court’s decision because it would bring state institution in a head-on collision.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2019