NCHR takes notice of civilian’s death; seeks explanation from Interior Ministry

The murder of a civilian in Islamabad, who was shot dead by a police officer for refusing to stop at a checkpoint, has caught the nation’s attention. The National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) has taken suo moto notice of the incident and is seeking explanation for it from the Ministry of Interior and the government.

The incident shows that there is weak accountability within the police, because of which a member of the federal police killed an unarmed civilian and later ran away.

While talking to the media, the National Human Rights Commissioner Chadhry Mohammad Shafique said that in addition to probing the shooting incident, it has also been decided to look into the issue of capacity building, training and educating officials of law enforcement agencies. He added that such incidents cannot be tolerated as they show that the officers who are supposed to protect the law, are the ones to be feared.

The incident in question took place on Feb 3, when a 25-year-old Islamabad resident by the name of Taimoor Riaz, was shot dead by a police officer when he refused to stop at a picket. The officer followed Taimoor, who was driving a white Toyota, and shot him three times. Autopsy reports showed that two bullets hit Taimoor in the back while one was lodged in his head. All three shots were fired from the back.

The police claim that Taimoor was shot because he did not stop at the security checkpoint and defied orders.

Shafique said that this particular incident called the performance of the federal police into questions and that steps were needed to rectify the problem. He said that this is not the first time that the federal police have opened fire on the civilians and that the Interior Ministry should take serious notice of the incident.

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Posted by fatimaarshad on Feb 6 2017. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.