ISLAMABAD: As the official version of the police about the raid on PTI chief Gohar Ali Khan’s house in the capital remains under intense scrutiny, the police chief has suspended four police officials deployed at the Supreme Court over their ‘failure’ to intercept the media persons approaching IGP Akbar Nasir Khan during his appearance at the apex court on Saturday.

The IGP had been summoned by the top court in connection with a police raid at PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan’s house in Sector F-7, where he was interviewed by reporters which was also uploaded on social media.

Officials of the capital police told Dawn that the four officials were suspended on the directives of IGP Khan, who expressed displeasure and scolded the policemen over their failure to stop the journalists.

Police spokesperson Taqi Jawad confirmed the suspension of policemen deployed at the top court. He added the officials were suspended from duty due to some disciplinary reasons. When asked to elaborate, he responded that the police officials were removed from duty due to “some uniform issue”.

‘Raid’ remains contested

On the other hand, the raid on the house of Barrister Gohar Ali Khan remained controversial as the capital police failed to justify it.

According to the police, the raid was conducted in response to information about the presence of proclaimed offenders in a house on the same street as Mr Gohar’s. Officials said in case someone is providing shelter to POs, the police register a case under Section 216 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Section 216 pertains to harbouring an offender who has escaped from custody or whose apprehension has been ordered. But in this incident, the police have not registered a case against anyone, which undermines the official narrative that the raid was a result of a mix-up.

After learning that the house belonged to the PTI chairman, even then the police team did not make any attempts to approach the accurate address to round up the alleged POs.

The police spokesperson was asked to share information about the identity of the POs and why a case was not registered against the individuals harbouring them, he said these matters would be addressed in the inquiry report.

Speaking about the confusion in house addresses, the officials said that the police have 22 registers, including Register No 12 which has the details of people and installations in the areas.

“If there was indeed some confusion over the address, then it means the police failed to update the register,” they said, adding that the IGP, DIG Operations and Zonal SPs under Police Rules are bound to examine the police stations and relevant records for updated information. “If the registers are updated then the statement about ‘confusion’ is meant to save face,” the officials added.

They further said that as per the SOPs, such raids are conducted after obtaining permission from the respective Zonal SP. The house was located in the jurisdiction of Kohsar police which accompanied Margalla police team during the raid. Both police stations are under the supervision of the SP City. Interestingly, the SP City is leading the probe into this raid as an inquiry officer.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2024