ISLAMABAD, Dec 30: Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Friday tendered an apology before a Senate committee on behalf of the government over a Karachi incident in which officers and personnel of the Rangers had humiliated some people and committed excesses in violation of human rights.

He informed the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights about the actions taken against those responsible.

An official statement said all officers and junior commissioned officers involved in the ‘misuse of power’ had been removed from commands. He said a departmental inquiry had been conducted to identify the individuals responsible for the incident that took place on June 1.

Mr Sherpao said that the responsible officials had been posted in ‘hard’ areas as punishment. To prevent such incidents in future, he added, a standard operating procedure had been chalked out which would be executed to educate the troops.

He pointed out that the director-general, Sindh Rangers, was out of the country on the day of the incident and the deputy director-general was in charge and added that if the members wished he would appear before the committee.

On June 1, the Rangers personnel picked up some workers of Jamaat-i-Islami during a demonstration and made them lie on road with their shirts off. These workers were also beaten up and dragged.