RAHIM YAR KHAN: A tea trader was allegedly killed by police when he refused to pay them money near Manthar town, Sadiqabad tehsil, some 42 kms from here on Saturday.

According to a video shared on social media, Abdul Haleem (57) of Manthar was on way on his bike to make recoveries for the tea he had supplied to retailers in the area.

Two constables of Manthar police, Sultan Warind and Shahid, chased him after he did not halt on their signal.

When Haleem stopped his motorcycle, policemen allegedly demanded money. On his refusal, police pushed him into an adjacent water channel. Haleem reportedly sustained a serious head injury from cemented structure and died on the spot after a few minutes.

Moments before his death, Haleem told a villager who rushed to the spot that he had been hit by the policemen.

Local residents of the area gathered there and blocked the Manthar-Chamman road.

Manthar SHO Rana Ramzan reached there and dispersed the villagers.

After a few hours the body was shifted to the Sheikh Zayed Medical College Hospital for postmortem.

Police spokesperson Saif Ali Wains told Dawn according to initial reports, Haleem was a drug pusher and some quantity of charas was also recovered on him. He said final report of his death would clear the picture.

RYK district president of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Sifatullah Khan said the statement of the deceased just before death showed he had been killed by police.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2023