Islamabad, July 20 (IANS) Police in Pakistan’s Lahore city have arrested a man after a firing incident was reported near Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar’s car, local media reported.
The incident happened in Lahore’s Defence A area while Tarar was travelling with his family on Saturday night. Police has identified the suspect as Osama, who was arrested shortly after the incident. Officers also found the firearm used in the firing and seized the vehicle involved. According to police, a case has been lodged against the suspect and further investigation is being conducted, leading Pakistani daily ‘The Nation’ reported.
Police said the investigation is underway but the preliminary investigation indicates that the incident seems to be a case of aerial firing instead of deliberate attack.
Sharing details regarding the incident, Tarar said a vehicle overtook his car and a man seated inside it displayed a pistol before firing several shots in the air. He said his staff immediately followed the vehicle, noted its registration number and informed the police, The Nation reported.
Tarar said that he was not the target and the suspect was not aware that a federal minister was travelling in the car. He stated that he and his family members did not suffer any injury.
On June 10, a nine-year-old girl was killed and her father and brother injured after the police opened fire at their car in Chakwal, mistaking them for robbers, Dawn had reported. All the victims were Australian nationals.
Adil Ahmad arrived in Pakistan from Makkah along with his wife Sidra Khan, son Aqan Ahmad and daughter Hania. In his statement to the inquiry officers, Ahmad said that they were heading to attend a family function in Chakwal on June 10 at 9 pm when two gunmen held them up at gunpoint outside the CCD’s office and snatched valuables from his wife.
Ahmad said that he heard gunfire and the suspected robbers took shelter in his car while responding to the police’s firing. He said that he took the car out of the range of the firing but many bullets were fired at the vehicle, which injured him, his daughter and son. Later, Ahmad’s daughter succumbed to injuries.
“The conduct of the officer involved has represented a grave deviation from our established Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and the legal standards governing the use of force,” Dawn quoted Punjab CCD Additional IG, Sohail Zafar Chatha as saying.
–IANS
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