FAISALABAD, Aug 27: The Kotwali police have yet to register the case against Qari Noor Muhammad which led to his arrest and death in custody.

According to insiders, the case against Qari Noor under 16-MPO had not so far been entered into the Roznamcha and the FIR book, despite the police claim that they had registered it on Aug 16.

The sources said that page number 217 of the FIR book, on which the case was supposed to have been registered, was still blank, and the high-ups had directed the Kotwali police not to enter any case on it till further orders. It is believed that the police are waiting for an application from legal heirs of Qari Noor against his death in custody before making the next move.

Local MMA leaders say they have not so far lodged a complaint with the police for registration of a case against those who allegedly tortured Qari Noor to death, because the postmortem report does not state the specific cause of death of Qari Noor despite identifying 52 marks of torture on the body, including 30 injuries on the private parts, 10 of which were serious.

Qari Noor was arrested from Jamia Masjid Mubarik by plainclothesmen belonging to an intelligence agency on the night of Aug 13, on charges of connections with the Al Qaeda leadership and banned militant organizations.

MMA city president Maulana Obaidullah Garmani and Muhammad Imamudin, an Afghan National, were also rounded up. The police disclosed the arrests on Aug 17, claiming that Qari Noor had died of heart failure in custody. The police released the other two men after his death.

Qari Noor was the city president of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazalur Rehman and a known figure in the local religious community. His wife is also engaged in teaching girls at a madressah adjacent to Jamia Masjid Mubarik on the Dijkot Road.

Meanwhile, some unknown persons distributed a pamphlet here after Friday prayers, declaring policemen in whose custody Qari Noor died as liable to death. Two hooded motorcyclists dropped hand-written pamphlets outside Jamia Masjid, Katchery Bazaar, and escaped.