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Govt- PTI at odds over ‘mysterious’ death of Ali Bilal

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The country on Wednesday was left shocked after horrific images of the body of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) worker Ali Bilal — nicknamed Zille Shah — in Lahore began circulating on social media, not long after the PTI’s rally to launch its election campaign was called off

Soon “Zille Shah”, “Ali Bilal” and “Black Vigo” began to trend on Twitter and other social media platforms. 

Before the watching eyes of the horrified country, more and more details of Bilal’s death began to surface, including closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of a private 4X4 vehicle, which can be seen dropping Bilal at a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

According to the post-mortem report, the victim had 26 marks of torture on his body.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan then shared a video of Bilal being taken away in a police van claiming that he was killed in police custody.

“This video clearly shows that Ali Bilal, also affectionately called Zille Shah, was alive when taken to [the] police station. So he was killed while in police custody — such is the murderous bent of the present regime & Punjab police,” the former prime minister tweeted.

However, the screengrabs of the CTV footage reveal that Bilal was brought to the hospital in a private 4X4 vehicle by people who were dressed in civilian clothing and not police uniforms.

The footage also reveals the faces of those who brought Bilal to the hospital.

However, the police seem no closer to finding the perpetrators of the heinous crime.

Instead, the Lahore police — in a statement Thursday — said that they have formed a committee comprising two police officers to probe Bilal’s death.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Elite Force Sadiq Ali and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Imran Kashore have been named in the committee, the police said.

The inquiry committee will note down the statements of the witnesses and the committee will submit its report to the inspector general of police (IGP) Punjab in three days, added the law enforcement agency.

‘Custodial torture’

While the committee conducts its probe, Twitter is rife with contrary speculations on the matter. Proponents of PTI categorically claimed that the party worker was brutalised by police.

Taking to his Twitter handle, the PTI chief wrote: “Ali Bilal unarmed & our dedicated & passionate PTI worker murdered by Punjab police. Shameful, this brutality on unarmed PTI workers who were coming to attend election rally. Pakistan is in the grip of murderous criminals. We will file cases against IG, CCPO & others for murder.”

The official Twitter handle of the party also shared pictures of Bilal’s post-mortem report, stating: “Post Mortem report of Shaheed Ali Bilal shows use of blunt force & brutal torture causing 26 injuries”

Former minister of Human Rights of Pakistan and PTI senior leader Shireen Mazari took to the microblogging platform and alleged that Bilal’s demise was a result of “custodial torture”.

“Custodial torture against PTI ldrship [leadership] & workers has reached new depths of barbarism with the killing in custody of Ali Bilal. Question is why a powerful psycopath with his henchmen overseeing all this is being allowed to continue making [a] mockery of our Constitution & Rule of Law?”

‘A mystery’

However, the government maintains that the matter is being looked into. Speaking at Geo News programme Aaj Shahzeb khanzada Kay Sath, interim Information Minister Amir Mir said yesterday: “The circumstances around the death of the PTI worker Ali Bilal alias Zille Shah have yet to be determined.”

He further said that the investigation into the matter had been going on since Wednesday night and the Punjab IG had formulated a two-member committee to look into the matter.

“The committee’s findings will be revealed in three days,” he said, adding, “This is because the preliminary investigations have found CCTV footage from the hospital in Lahore where this person was brought.”

When Bilal was taken to the hospital on a stretcher, doctors pronounced him dead and immediately afterwards, the person who brought him in disappeared, Mir added.

“We are trying the CCTV footage to find the owner of the vehicle.”

In response to a question, Mir said: “If you believe social media, we [Punjab interim government] killed him, but it must be asked what would we stand to gain from this death? This dead body is simply an attempt to stigmatise Punjab Police.”

He further said that when the body was brought to the hospital, the PTI rally had been over for several hours.

“This matter is a mystery to us,” the interim minister said.

Mir said that the preliminary post-mortem revealed two injuries — on the head and in the abdomen.

“Apparently, by circumstantial evidence, he was killed in a car accident. The question is: who was this person?”

We are still trying to figure out exactly which clash resulted in Bilal’s death, which was certainly not outside Zaman park.

“Had he been injured outside Zaman Park, he would have been taken to the hospital immediately.”

Asserting that should any police personnel be found involved in the matter, the perpetrator would be punished “according to law,” the interim information minister said: “We will find out who was behind this and where the body came from.”

Elections

Atta Tarar’s triumph over NA-127 in the LHC is contested

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The victory of Attaullah Tarar, the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting and leader of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) from Lahore’s NA-127 constituency in the general elections on February 8 has been contested in the Lahore High Court (LHC).

Samiullah Khan’s victory from PP-145 has also been contested. The petitions will be heard by Election Tribunal Judge Sultan Tanveer. The petitions have included the Pakistani Election Commission (ECP) and other parties as parties.

In the meantime, Attaullah Tarar stated during a discussion with Miss Zoe Ware, the Political Counselor of the British High Commission, that fake news, misinformation, and disinformation were global issues that needed to be managed.

According to the minister, fake news is the largest issue on social media, and the government is working to address it.

The conference covered a wide range of topics, including the two nations’ relationship and how to foster media collaboration. Collaboration in the drama and cinema industries was also covered.

According to Attaullah Tarar, social media verification should be adopted by journalists, and a global code of conduct for social media usage should be created.

Miss Zoe Ware thanked Attaullah Tarar on taking over as Minister of Information and Broadcasting and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) on establishing the cabinet.

She was given the assurance that the UK diplomat will work with her to promote bilateral ties between Pakistan and the UK.

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Pakistan

US commitment to resolving Pakistan’s energy crisis is prioritized

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According to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, Pakistan was assisted by the United States in producing an extra 4,000 megawatts of sustainable energy.

According to him, these kinds of initiatives have given Pakistan more capacity to produce energy, allowing it to power millions of people.

The spokesman restated that both nations will cooperate through the green alliance to address the environmental issues.

At a news briefing, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated, “Earlier, the United States advised Pakistan to halt the Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project, as engaging in business with Iran poses the risk of encountering U.S. sanctions.”

“We always advise everyone that doing business with Iran carries the risk of encountering our sanctions, and we would advise everyone to consider that very carefully,” he continued. “I’m not going to preview any potential sanctions.”

He said, “We do not support this pipeline going forward, as the Assistant Secretary made clear last week.”

The Pakistan-Iran pipeline project was approved for completion a few months ago by the caretaker administration in Pakistan. But after this permission, Pakistan received an official statement from the US expressing its worries. Pakistan again put a stop to the project’s execution when the United States expressed concerns.

Miller said, “We condemn the attack on a convoy of PRC engineers in Pakistan,” in response to a query. Miller also denounced the terrorist attack on Chinese engineers in Pakistan. We offer our sincere condolences to all impacted by the incident and are extremely saddened by the deaths and injuries incurred.

He declared, “Terrorists have caused enormous suffering to the Pakistani people, and Chinese nationals living in Pakistan have also been the targets of terrorist strikes.” Such acts of terror should not occur in any nation.

In response to a question concerning a letter from Pakistani judges, the spokesperson stated that while he had seen the letter, he had not yet conferred with his colleagues and would not be making any comments.

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Pakistan

Fazlur Rehman says the government led by Shehbaz won’t be able to deliver

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Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the head of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), expressed doubts on Wednesday over the viability of the Shehbaz Sharif administration, stating that he believes the new system will fail if citizens go to the streets.

Fazlur Rehman stated on Wednesday’s “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath” segment of Geo News that “the parliament will likely be a rubber stamp.” There are simply too many obstacles for this government to handle. In the end, politicians will be held accountable for all of their shortcomings.”

The “crime is committed by someone else and the politicians take responsibility,” he said, calling it bizarre. The leader of JUI-F declared that his organization will demonstrate against the establishments that had turned the elections into a “game.”


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Fazl has previously said that he would abstain from the by-elections for the National Assembly and provincial assembly seats. In addition, he declared that on April 25, following Ramadan, he will start a protest campaign against the purported election manipulation from Balochistan.

“We firmly believe that there will be a rigged general election in 2024. And the factor that changed the outcome would be our aim. We reject the findings that led to the formation of this government,” he declared.

The leader of JUI-F stated that they disagreed with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa election results.

“[Earlier] the issues with the PTI were ideological and not election-related,” he said.

He stated that the party had not yet made the decision to work with the PTI. He did concede, though, that the Imran Khan-led party’s attitude has changed for the better. He remarked that it was a positive attitude and that it would not be a problem if the two parties moved together.

Fazl also revealed that he told Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister, that he thought of him as a new blue-eyed boy during their meeting.

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