ISLAMABAD: Four young men were killed and two others injured when a vehicle with the family of Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women Kashmala Tariq on board hit a car on Srinagar Highway late Monday night.

The police have registered a case against the ombudsperson’s son, Azlan Khan, and arrested the family’s driver. Her son, however, obtained bail before arrest. He appeared in the court of Additional Sessions Judge Mohammad Sohail, who granted him bail before arrest against surety bonds of Rs50,000 till Feb 16.

Later speaking at a press conference, Kashmala Tariq said her son was not driving the vehicle that hit the car. She said she and her husband were travelling in the vehicle driven by their driver that crashed into the Mehran car.

Four youth travelling in a car were killed after Lexus in convoy of vehicles hit them

She said her son was travelling in another vehicle driven by another driver and demanded that the footage of the Safe City Project be released to prove her son’s innocence.

“The accident was a result of the negligence of the drivers of both vehicles but the media started trial of my family,” Ms Tariq added.

“My son remained in the spot till 12 midnight,” she said.

Ms Tariq said she and her husband also suffered injuries and the latter was hospitalised.

The police said the incident took place at the G-11 signal where a speeding white Lexus coming from Golra Mor jumped the red light and hit a Mehran car in which five people were traveling. The Mehran was coming to Srinagar Highway from G-11 side, they added.

After the collision, the car rolled a couple of times on the highway and crossed over to the opposite lane and collided with a motorcycle and another vehicle.

The Lexus also hit a motorcyclist before coming to a stop a few hundred metres away from the spot, the police said.

The driver of the Lexus could not escape as one of the car riders was lying in front of his vehicle, the police said, adding that the Lexus was travelling along with a couple of other vehicles, including a black Fortuner, bearing government registration number plates.

People surrounded the Lexus and the Fortuner and forced their riders to disembark. Police were called but in the meantime the ombudsperson’s family escaped in the Fortuner.

Later, the injured passengers of the car and a motorcyclist were shifted to hospital where the vehicle inmates were pronounced dead.

The dead were identified as Anis Ahmed, 22, Farooq Ahmed, 23, Hayder Ali, 22, and Malik Adil 23, the police said.

A police report on the incident said the Lexus jumped a red signal and its driver’s negligence claimed the lives of the four people.

The police registered a case in response to a complaint lodged by Mujeebur Rehman, the injured rider of the Mehran, against the person driving the Lexus.

The FIR said Mujeebur Rehman, a security in-charge at a hospital in Mansehra, along with four other people had come to Islamabad in the Mehran car to appear in an interview for a job in the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF).

The FIR said the injured complainant could listen to people calling the driver of the vehicle as Azlan, son of Ombudsperson Kashamala Tariq.

A senior police officer told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the police arrested a man, driver by profession and working with the family, even though Ms Tariq’s son was nominated in the FIR with his name.

When contacted, ASP Ramna circle Usman Munir told Dawn that Azlan’s driver had been arrested who in his statement confessed to having committed the crime. He confirmed that the Lexus was travelling on the highway in a motorcade of five other vehicles, including the official vehicle.

The Lexus was driven by the driver and Ms Tariq’s husband, owner of Best Western Hotel, was sleeping on the rear seat. Azlan was traveling in the official Fortuner, the ASP added.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2021