Are Sialkot boys innocent?

What to believe and what not! Drama of life goes on…These are the times when truth is impossible to find. We just have to keep trying.

All of us have seen the videos and news of their brutal murder. Here is the other side of the picture by Ansar Abbasi.

By Ansar Abbasi (Courtesy:The News)
ISLAMABAD: A leading civilian intelligence agency of the country has concluded that the two Sialkot brothers, brutally killed by the mob recently, were allegedly road robbers, who killed a 22-year old young man and injured a few others on the fateful day that led to their killing by the infuriated locals after the brothers were caught red-handed.
The two brothers, according to its report, were initially handed over to the Rescue-1122 authorities but later brutally killed by the locals, who were already sick of such kind of road robberies in their vicinity, but were inflamed by the news about the death of one of those shot by the elder of Sialkot brothers.
“The delayed arrival of police and that too in small number also aggravated the situation to a large extent,” the report said, adding, “the police did not try to save both the boys rather every police official who arrived at the place became part of the crowd which was continuously abusing the beaten boys and encouraging the people beating them with clubs and rods etc. Same was the attitude of the SHO/Inspector of PS Saddar who arrived after about one hour of the first information of robbery and firing.”
DPO Sialkot Waqar Chohan, the report said, let things happen and deliberately arrived late and by the time the boys were subjected to severe and inhuman thrashing and hanged upside down on pipes of the water tank of 1122 building. “The DPO consoled the father of the deceased Bilal who was present on the spot and appreciated the “justice” awarded to the dacoits.
“However, on his intervention the bodies were brought down and people refrained from burning the dead bodies.” It was after the departure of the DPO that the dead bodies were paraded in the streets of the villages, which were affected by the street crimes, on tractor trolleys under local police escort and finally thrown at the mortuary of the civil hospital Sialkot.
Regarding the then RPO, Gujranwala, Mr. Zulfiqar Cheema, the report said he did not reach Sialkot until August 21,2010 (6th day of the incident) when media and suo-moto action of Supreme Court created hype and alarmed the police administration. “Reportedly, he did not show his concern earlier as the episode was in line with his policies of street justice,” the report added.
The following is the operative part of the report with slight amendments:
“2. The incident took place on August 15, 2010 (Sunday) at about 0615 hours on the road which turns from main Sialkot-Gujranwala road toward village Boottar, about 50 yards away from the main road. The Rescue-1122 centre is situated on the intersection of these roads and the village is about 1 1/2 km away from that intersection. The people of the area belonging to the nearby settlements have confirmed that incidents of road robbery/snatching take place on this link road quite often particularly in the early hours of the day and after sunset. Although there is only one FIR of such crime registered at the PS, yet a number of police officials have also confirmed these incidents and we have also met with three such victims.
3. Reportedly, the incident started when one Bilal s/o Shaukat Ali Bhatti aged about 22 years, who was returning from a private hospital in the city where he had gone to help (donate blood) the family of his neighbour, was intercepted by two motorcyclists who made him hands-up by pointing pistol towards him. Exactly that was the time when a pick-up with 8/10 males and 6/8 children turned up on the same link road while returning from a religious gathering. According to a person sitting on the front seat of the pick-up they sensed the danger and stopped the vehicle. In the meanwhile, another motorcycle reached from the city side carrying one Javed Bhatti (brother of Bilal already intercepted) and his servant Imran. They jumped off the bike and dashed towards them to assist his brother. Finding such help, Bilal encouraged and got hold of the younger boy while his brother and servant moved towards the elder one. Getting panic in this entire situation, the elder boy, having pistol, started firing to get his younger brother released which hit Bilal, Javed, Imran and Zeeshan aged 10 years (one of the children boarded on the pick-up). As soon as the boy exhausted his ammunition, the people of the pick-up and staff of adjacent Rescue 1122 overpowered them and gave them the early thrash. The injured were immediately taken to hospital in the 1122 ambulances and two boys were tied and locked in the 1122 office building awaiting concerned police of PS Saddar, Sialkot situated about 2/3 km away.
4. In the meanwhile, people of the area, general passers-by and the people of village Boottar who were coming back from the city after attending a “Dars-i-Quran’ got assembled outside the building of Rescue 1122. The injured Bilal was pronounced dead after reaching the hospital as the bullet pierced into his heart and another Zeeshan (child) was also referred to Lahore in critical conditions, as he received bullet injury in his neck and spine. The news of Bilal’s death and paralysis of Zeeshan inflamed the people who were already sick of such kind of road robberies in their vicinity. The delayed arrival of police and that too in small number also aggravated the situation to a large extent.
5. Later the enraged people forcibly snatched the boys from 1122 staff and started beating them outside the building of 1122. At that time, the conduct of the police staff was the manifestation of “Gujranwala Range Police Doctrine” i.e. if you find a criminal particularly dacoit, don’t arrest him alive rather beat him to death and make him an example of “street justice” by parading his dead body in the streets. Therefore, the police did not try to save both the boys rather every police official who arrived at the place became part of the crowd, which was continuously abusing the beaten boys and encouraging the people to beat them with clubs and rods etc. The same was the attitude of the SHO/Inspector of PS Saddar who arrived after about one hour of the first information of robbery and firing.
6. DPO Sialkot, Waqar Chohan who was already under criticism from the Regional Police Officer for not showing the desired result, let the things happen and deliberately arrived late at about 0900 hours. By that time, the boys were subjected to severe and inhuman thrashing and got hanged upside down with pillars and pipes of the water tank of 1122 building. The DPO consoled the father of the deceased Bilal who was present on the spot and appreciated the “justice” awarded to the dacoits. However, on his intervention, the bodies were brought down and people refrained from burning the dead bodies. Then, soon after the departure of DPO, the dead bodies were put on tractor trolleys and paraded in the streets of the villages under local police escort and finally thrown at the mortuary of the civil hospital Sialkot.
7. RPO Gujranwala, Mr. Zulfiqar Cheema did not arrive at Sialkot until August 21, 2010 (6th day of the incident) when media and suo-moto action of the Supreme Court alarmed the police administration. Reportedly, he did not show his concern earlier as the episode was in line with his policies of street justice.
8. Comments: The controversies created by the gossip, rumours and speculations are as under:
a) That the boys used to play cricket in the ground of the Boottar village where some dispute arose a week earlier. On that day, some incident of house robbery took place in the village at “sehri” time ad when villagers got assembled to search and chase the dacoits, they spotted these boys on motorcycle and on the basis of earlier cricket dispute they were falsely blamed by their opponents, thrashed and killed.
(i) There is no such playground in the area where cricket is played. The only cricket playing ground is in the premises of “Saga Factory” about one km away on the main Sialkot-Gujranwala road, where no game has been played since long as the factory has been closed down after the demise of its owner and inter-family disputes. High grown grass and adverse conditions observed during visit of that ground also testified this observation.
(ii) The relatives of the deceased boys have not yet identified any other player who even accompanied the boys for such game or the opponent team members of the village with whom they quarrelled over cricket match. In fact, no such event took place in that area, therefore, the family of the deceased boys is unable to find any supporting evidence despite the fact that such aggression has been incorporated by them in the FIR no.449/10 u/s302, 147, 149, 109 dated 20 August 2010 as the prime cause of incident, which got registered after five days of the incident.
(iii) The deceased Bilal and his injured brother Javed & injured servant Imran are all illiterate milkmen and labour class type people belonging to the business of live stock. They hardly appear to be sports lover or cricket players and even at the time of incident Javed and Imran (servant) were returning from the city after selling milk, which was also evident from their motorcycle (Yamaha) with which milk carrying utensils were tied.
(iv)The village people assembled on the spot not by design but coincidently as about 80/100 people were returning from a “Ten Days Dars-i-Quran” organised annually in the month of Ramdan by one Hafiz Saqib Raza Mustafai of Gujranwala, after Fajar prayers in the city of Sialkot.
b) The 2nd rumour got spread when the wife of deceased Bilal appeared on some TV channel and appealed for justice as she became widow just 10 months after marriage. According to that gossip, the wife of deceased Bilal belonged to Haji Pura (the area to which the boys belonged) and there were some relations of her and the elder boys (Hafiz Mughees). So, allegedly Bilal had warned them not to visit their area and threatened him of dire consequences if they did.
i) It is revealed that the in-laws of Bilal belong to the same village and there is no such evidence that Hafiz Mughees ever visited the village before or any brawl or exchange of hot words ever took place between them.
ii) A large number of the people are eyewitness to the act of firing. It was the boys who carried the weapon and caused firearm injuries to three members of the other party and a passer-by. Had there been any threat and preparation by Bilal brothers, they might also have armed themselves with some weapon.
c) The 3rd story which spread after the statement by the mother of the boys on TV channels that her sons were invited by the village people by calling on the cell phone of her elder son.
(i) The cell number of Hafiz Mughees was taken from Khawaja Amjad Butt (real uncle of Hafiz Mughees) and handed over to authorities i.e. 0321-7141873. According to the CDR provided by the Technical Wing no such call was made on August 15th prior to the incident. Hence, this story also does not hold water.
8. Apparently, there is no confusion about the events after the incident of firing i.e.
Firing by one of the two brothers.
Coincidental arrival of the village people.
Hauling up of them by the villagers and Rescue 1122 Staff.
Recovery of the two pistols and magazines.
Recovery of the bag having some bullets, rear number plate of the same motorcycle, one cutter and one pair of cricket gloves which was handed over by the people to In-charge Rescue 1122 and later to the concerned police.
9. While the confusion, which still persists is the cause of the firing by Mughees brothers. There are three possibilities:
a) Earlier cricket dispute as alleged in the FIR.
b) Some dispute over illicit relations.
c) Road robbery.
10. As per our findings the earlier two possibilities are ruled out substantially, so the only possibility that could be the cause of the incident appears to be road robbery and following points support this inference:
* Reporting of such snatching incidents earlier by the motorcyclists on this road even with Javed (the injured brother of Bilal).
* The visit of Hafiz Mughees brothers to this area where they have nothing to do during such early hours of the day.
* Armed with pistols on a motorcycle without rear number plate, which was later recovered from their bag.
* Desperate and panic act of firing to avoid being caught.

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