Sept 19, 2024
Staff Report
LAHORE:
The policeman accused of killing a blasphemy suspect in a police lockup in Quetta has been publicly pardoned by family members of the victim.
They have forgiven the police constable accused of killing him while in custody in Quetta. It was announced at a news conference in Quetta on September 18, that they would not pursue the murder case of Abdul Ali in the court – in the name of Allah.
Further, no compensation was settled for Ali’s family.
On September 12, police constable Saad Muhammad Sarhadi fired shots at Abdul Ali, also known as Sakhi Lala, while he was in custody at the heavily guarded Cantonment police station in Quetta, Balochistan. Ali, accused of blasphemy after a viral video surfaced, had been transferred to the more secure police station in the Cantonment, following a mob’s gathering outside Kharotabad police station, where he was initially held.
Sarhadi, not in uniform, allegedly infiltrated the station by posing as a relative of Ali, according to police.
At the press conference in Quetta, Muhammad Usman, seated alongside his brother and tribal elders, announced that his family would not pursue the case against Sarhadi. “We have forgiven the police officer in the name of Allah,” he added.
Chief of Noorzai tribe, Haji Faizullah Noorzai, said the tribe would disown Ali. “We and our families are the kind of people who would sacrifice their lives for the sake of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), and his respect,” he said.
Faizullah urged that the incident should not be portrayed as an ethnic issue on social media in Balochistan.
However, the law does not regard the decision of Ali’s sons and tribal elders as final. A court must decide whether to proceed with the murder charges or accept the family’s plea for pardon. Under Section 311 of the penal code, a judge can still sentence suspects of heinous crimes to life imprisonment, even if pardoned by the victim’s heirs.
This is not the first incident of its kind in Pakistan, where a serving police officer has killed a suspect facing blasphemy charges while in custody. In 2011, a police guard shot Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, who was advocating for Aasia Bibi, a blasphemy accused. The guard was sentenced to death and executed in 2016.