I hope that the Great Salman Taseer, Governor of Punjab sets up an independent judicial committee to look into the torture of youths under the former CM Shahbaz Sharif’s administration.
Who ordered torture of protesting youths in Shahbaz’s Punjab?
**Who ordered torture of protesting youths in Shahbaz’s Punjab? **
ISLAMABAD: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif hasn’t taken any action against the Home Department or the Punjab police officials on Thursday’s torture of the National Commission for Human Development’s educated personnel, who were demonstrating against their sacking, government officials said. But some other officials named provincial Home Secretary Nadeem Hassan Asif as the man who ordered the baton-charging. The NCHD was instituted by Musharraf. These officials feel that the home secretary was acting on the instructions of some high-ups in the government. Nadeem denies the allegation.
Shahbaz Sharif has, in the recent past, been very vocal against the vicious use of state machinery against innocent civilians during the dictatorial regime of Musharraf. But his oblivious ignorance of the brutal use of force against the educated youth on Thursday has surprised many. Many officials of the CM’s team, when contacted to know as to who had ordered the police action, said that the demonstrators had tried to enter the premises of the provincial assembly and that the police were left with no option but to stop them by force.
According to Khalid Javed, a NCHD employee from Okara, the demonstrators only wanted to register their presence in front of the Punjab Assembly to record their protest. “All of a sudden, a police party attacked us and started beating everyone in the rally.” Khalid said that even those who were sitting in vans or personal vehicles were also attacked by the police. Home Secretary Nadeem Asif said there were no specific orders to attack the demonstrators. He, however, confirmed that no action had still been taken against anyone responsible, claiming that responsible officials “will be punished”. The NCHD was constituted at the start of Musharraf’s regime to bestow the serving as well as ex-Army personnel with the ‘objectives’ of human development through increasing literacy rate and good health. However, the institution turned out to be a white elephant as it achieved nothing in seven years and only became a platform for lucrative salaries and benefits for the friends of Musharraf.