PESHAWAR: The police stood by its claim of events leading to an alleged enco­u­nter on Wednesday which left three policemen and a resident dead and eight others injured.

Addressing a press conference on Thurs­day, SSP operations Dr Mian Saeed said the policemen were patrolling the area when they saw Aslam Niaz, the deceased resident, who was armed. According to him, it was Aslam Niaz who opened fire at the policemen.

Also read: Three policemen, resident die in ‘encounter’

According to Dr Saeed, the accused [Niaz] continued to fire at police personnel from a window. He said three police personnel died and Niaz was killed when policemen fired back. He added that when police personnel were taking the bodies to their vehicles, they came under fire from rooftops, which left seven policemen injured.

Know more: Cop booked in Peshawar for killing man while under suspension

Suspension orders for the SHO of the Urmar police station, he said, had not reached the police station and the order was supposed to have been routed through the capital city police officer Peshawar. He added that the case was being investigated.

The Urmar police have registered two FIRs - one against SHO Ijaz Khan and other against Alsam Niaz. Police have charged Niaz under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), Section 302 of the Pakistan Panel Code (PPC) while SHO Khan has been charged under Section 302 of the PPC.

Niaz’s lawyer Daud Burki advocate, told Dawn that his client had been granted bail before arrest by the additional sessions judge on Aug 26 and he was scheduled to appear before the court again on Sept 7.

He added that his client had also joined police investigations and he was shocked when he heard that he was being described as a proclaimed offender.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2015

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