LAHORE: In its preliminary report after a fact-finding mission to the Joseph Colony in Badami Bagh, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has held the police and the provincial administration squarely responsible for the attack on Christian homes earlier this week.
The mission’s purpose was to “present facts — regarding the incident of violence on Saturday, March 9 — and the events that led up to the incident.”
The report also seeks to look at the response of the administration before and during the incident and identify those responsible for the lapse. The initial investigations were conducted over two days and the HRCP plans to issue detailed findings within a few days.
On March 9, more than 200 houses in Joseph Colony were attacked, looted and burnt by a mob. The incident which sparked the chain of events that led to the assault is said to have occurred on Wednesday, March 6. “(A)ccording to most residents…on Wednesday evening a quarrel broke out between Shahid Imran, a local barber, and Sawan Masih alias Bodhi, while they were drinking together,” says the initial HRCP report. “At the end of the fight Imran alleged that Sawan had made blasphemous remarks.
“At a subsequent stage, a resident of a neighbouring locality, Shaikhabad, Shafiq alias Cheeko, came to know of the incident through Imran. Later Shafiq, with the apparent intention of attacking Sawan, went to Joseph Colony, burnt down the billiard table (owned by) Sawan and proceeded to curse and threaten Sawan and the Christian community generally. Sawan was subsequently arrested on Friday after an FIR under Section 295-C, PPC, had been registered against him at the Badami Bagh police station.”
The report quotes Zahida Parveen, a relative of Sawan, as saying that on the Friday evening the local police told the Christian community to vacate their houses as there was a possibility of violence erupting on Saturday. “The police also assured them of the safety of their houses and their belongings. Following the warning by the police almost the entire community evacuated the colony on Friday.”
Some of the residents expressed the fear that the local trader community might have played a role in escalating the tensions. A local candidate for the upcoming Trader Association elections was alleged to have played a subversive role in the episode and in particular the incitement.
“On Saturday, a mob reportedly of around 3,000 ransacked and looted the colony with complete impunity, setting fire to majority of houses,” says the HRCP report. “There is enough evidence to suggest that there was a considerable presence of the police force on the scene of occurrence. There is nothing to suggest that the mob was in any way resisted by the police.
According to some residents, there was looting before the houses were set on fire.”
The HRCP mission found it “disturbing” that the local administration “that was clearly aware of the possibility of such an attack failed to take adequate measures either before or even during the attack”. The commission asserts that the warning issued by the police on Friday to the residents “establishes conclusively the fact that the administration knew about arson and plunder in advance”.
DCO Noorul Amin Mengal, while talking to the mission, “admitted the knowledge on Friday about possible violence and claimed to have informed his superiors, the IGP, and the chief minister, about the situation”. The DCO said “he was present at some point during the incident on Saturday and asserted that maintenance of law and order was not part of his job as after the Police Order 2002 this power had devolved to the police administration”.
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