Pakistan: Grim details of Ahmadi school teacher’s torture death emerge

It is a very well known fact that the provincial government and the provincial law minister, particularly, have connections with extremist groups and banned organisations who are very much against the Ahmadis and who have been involved in the killings of Ahmadis and Shias, the second largest Muslim sect.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Daily Times | Pakistan
By Daily Times | April 3, 2012

LAHORE: The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has shown its concern over the death of an Ahmadi schoolteacher by Chenab Nagar police.

The AHRC has received information that the Chenab Nagar police detained and tortured to death Abdul Qudoos Ahmad, a schoolteacher and the president of the Nusratabad chapter of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat.

The police kept him in illegal detention for 35 days. He was hung upside down by his ankles for long periods. He was also forced to lay flat on his back while a heavy wooden roller, similar to those used to flatten cricket pitches, was rolled over his body. His captors stood on either side making sure he could not escape the torment.

Ahmad (43), a well-respected schoolteacher was taken into custody by the police on February 10 and was kept in a private torture cell until March 26. He remained in police custody for 35 days without any charges being laid against him and was not officially arrested.
He was forced to confess to the murder of Muhammad Yousuf, a stamp-paper seller from Nusratabad. The man was murdered a few months ago. During the illegal detention neither Ahmed was allowed to meet his family, nor he was provided a lawyer. According to information received from various sources, inhumane and merciless treatment led to multiple organ failure and other physical injuries. When Ahmed’s condition deteriorated the police forced a family member to place his signature on a piece of blank paper and take him back home. Ahmed was released on March 26. Despite the best efforts of the family and doctors he was unable to recover and on March 30 he passed away in a hospital.

According to the version filed by the police only two subordinate officers were mentioned in their report. Chenab Nagar Police Station House Officer (SHO) Khadim Hussain registered a case against sub inspectors, Shujaat Ali and Manazar Ali under sections 302, 148, 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code. In this manner, impunity was assured to the real culprits, including SHO Khadim Hussain and other police officials.

It is with the connivance of a provincial law minister that the Punjab Police have been able to hide the criminal practice of the police of keeping suspects in illegal detention for months during which time they are tortured to get confessional statements and bribes. The provincial law minister has been instrumental in sheltering the high officials of the police from involvement in these heinous crimes. These officers include the highest police officer of the district.

Ahmed’s brother-in-law, Imtiaz Ahmed said that Ahmad was brutally tortured during interrogation, causing severe internal injuries. After his release, he said, the police threatened the family members to hush up the matter. According to Imtiaz, Ahmed was admitted to a local hospital where he died due to excessive loss of blood.

It is unbelievable that a man could be kept in a police station for 35 days and continuously tortured and the SHO and other high officials, including the DSP of the police station concerned knew nothing about the incident. This criminal act by the district police has been covered up under guise of releasing the prisoner to hide the illegal and supra-constitutional behaviour of the police.

The Punjab government has not yet started investigation into the incident of arbitrary detention, torture and misuse of police power against the police officers concerned. It is a very well known fact that the provincial government and the provincial law minister, particularly, have connections with extremist groups and banned organisations who are very much against the Ahmadis and who have been involved in the killings of Ahmadis and Shias, the second largest Muslim sect.

The illegal dentition and torture clearly violated the procedural law, specifically Section 61 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1898, "No police officer shall detain in custody a person arrested without a warrant for a longer period than under all circumstances of the case is reasonable, and such period shall not, in the absence of a special order of a magistrate under Section 167, exceed 24 hours exclusive of the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the Magistrate’s Court." The procedural law stated that a person arrested not be detained more than 24 hours but Ahmed was illegally detained for 35 days. pr



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