Sialkot lynching case update: Waqar Chohan being rewarded despite role in atrocities

A principle police official accused in the Sialkot lynching case, where two brothers Mughees and Muneeb were brutally beaten to death in broad daylight, Waqar Chohan, has not only been set free but is also being apparently rewarded with an important position.

Chohan was DPO of the region when the gruesome Sialkot incident took place and the family of the victims accused him of being responsible for the deaths of their beloved sons. TV footage of the incident even showed that Waqar Chohan was present at the site where Mughees and Muneeb were being beaten to death and he made no efforts to stop the perpetrators, let alone arrest them for the heinous crime.

An Anti Terrorism Court that heard the case convicted Waqar, who was suspended and demoted after the lynching case became public, and ordered him to be imprisoned for 3 years.

However, the accused party filed an appeal against the decision in the Lahore High Court and a bench, headed by the Chief Justice of LHC, promptly suspended the sentence of Waqar pending a hearing of the matter.

The aggrieved family have raised much hue and cry over the decision of the court but their pleas seem to be falling on deaf years. The mother of Mughees and Muneeb appeared on a private TV channel and accused the former DPO Waqar Chohan of being responsible for the death and mutilation of his two young sons. She said the police official was being spared because of his political connections.

On the face of the matter, her claims appear to be completely accurate. Not only has Waqar Chohan’s sentence been suspended, he was promoted and posted at a high position in Islamabad. A promotion and high ranking position to an official accused of such barbaric and despicable murders is unheard of even in the shoddy history of Punjab Police.

Chohan though is highly connected and believed to have the support of Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz, the ruling party in Punjab. He is also the son-in-law of Rao Iqbal, an IG of the Police who was RPO at the time of the Sialkot incident and is currently posted in Rawalpindi.

Rao Iqbal is a handpicked appointee of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who had earlier pledged to take to task the perpetrators of the Sialkot lynching incident.

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Posted by Ali Ahmed on Oct 21 2011. Filed under Latest News, National. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry