PESHAWAR: According to sources who spoke to Dawn on Wednesday, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police have turned down requests from Punjab police to drop charges brought against members of the provincial Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) for a raid in which they allegedly attempted to kidnap a contractor.
Contractor Pir Muhammad said to police that he was in his Peshawar office when two individuals entered, one of whom identified himself as “Major Zarrar.”
Zarrar informed the contractor that a colonel wanted to meet him outside in a black Vigo that was parked on the main road, according to the FIR. The contractor, however, said that he informed Zarrar that he was prepared to meet the colonel within his office rather than outside.
He entered with his Vigo, and I rushed to greet him. I resisted when Zarrar and the other person tried to kidnap me by pushing me inside the car, Pir Muhammad said to Dawn. “The two individuals were subdued by my relatives who were in my office.”
After calling the police, a case was filed against Zarrar, who was eventually identified as Saleem Khan, an assistant sub-inspector from the CTD of Faisalabad. The other individual was recognized as Usman, who was also employed in the same division.
According to the reports, Punjab police made an unsuccessful attempt to have the case dropped.
According to the sources, “even SSP Faisalabad met with senior police officials, but the request was denied.”
The accusations were corroborated by Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Qasim Ali Khan, who stated that the accused were placed under judicial custody following their charges and court appearances.
They appeared before a magistrate after a case was brought against them. Since they are now in detention, it is doubtful that the lawsuit will be withdrawn, Mr. Khan informed Dawn.
According to him, local police have to be notified anytime officers transfer to a new jurisdiction; however, KP CTD was never notified of the raid.
According to a police official, the CTD men have not disclosed the reason for the “mysterious” raid till now.
“They are hesitant to share the details with KP police, but they only told us that the contractor was wanted by the Punjab CTD in a case investigation,” the officer stated.
He said that the Punjab CTD officers had not supplied the contractor’s criminal history.
