Police allegedly torture man to death in Rawalpindi

By
Irshad Qureshi

RAWALPINDI: Another incident of alleged police brutality emerged in Rawalpindi on Monday, when a 23-year-old man was reportedly tortured to death in police custody.

The family of the deceased, identified as Rehan, surrounded the police station in Ganj Mandi, claiming that he was detained last night and tortured to death by the police.

Protests outside Ganj Mandi police station

Neighbours and family members of the man chanted slogans protesting and mourning his death.

The deceased's brother, Imran, said Rehan was a drug addict but not a drug seller. 

"My brother died due to police torture," Imran said. 

The incident comes in the wake of countrywide calls for an end to ‘fake encounters’ after a Waziristan youth, Naqeebullah Mehsud, was shot dead in an alleged extrajudicial killing in Karachi last month.

No substantial progress has yet been made regarding the arrest of absconding suspended police official Rao Anwar, who is wanted by the authorities in connection to the extrajudicial murder of Naqeebullah.

Protesters have been staging a sit-in in Islamabad since a week demanding justice in the Naqeebullah case. The protesters, who include residents of DI Khan, FATA and other areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as Islamabad, have said that their sit-in will continue till the arrest of Anwar and his accomplices.