SC rejects police report on Jaranwala incident

ISLAMABAD  -   The Supreme Court of Pakistan Tuesday rejected the police report on the Jaranwala incident, saying that no relevant information provided about the FIRs registered against the miscreants, and what is the stage of their cases.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Mussarat Hilali conducted hearing of the case of Jaranwala incident.

It noted that it is not clear how many persons were nominat­ed, and though the challans of the incident have been submit­ted in the courts under Section 193 of the CrPC, but it is not clear what is the stage of the cases and names of the courts where the cases are pending.

The court said the State must have acted expeditiously, it must have shown the priori­ty and have concluded its tri­al to forestall such attacks on minority communities’ houses, and places of worship.

It said the report is unsatis­factory and, therefore, is dis­missed. The report has not shown the manner, and even identified who the attackers were and which party they were associated with. It ap­pears they have no intention to bring to book the real culprits. It also appears they are intimi­dated by miscreants.

The bench issued the warn­ing in the strongest term and directed thorough investiga­tion of the matter and rigorous perusal of the matter. It expect­ed that the policemen found in­volved in the incident would be suspended or removed. It di­rected that a thorough report in such terms be submitted on the next date.

The Punjab government was directed to submit a report re­garding the construction and the reconstruction done by the government itself and the com­pensation paid to those who have reconstructed or built their houses damaged by the mob during the Jaranwala in­cident.

The court said that the no­tice is also issued to the Attor­ney General for Pakistan, Ad­vocate General of Punjab and to the Ministry of Religious Af­fairs and Interfaith Harmony, asking the ministry to share the report if they have regard­ing creating inter-faith harmo­ny in the society.

About the Jaranwala inci­dent, the court said vicious attacks were launched on churches, houses and grave­yards of the Christians of Ja­ranwala on 16th August, 2023.

The court noted that the at­tacks on large scales arise on account of lack of education, hatred, and suspicion, and the miscreant used the religion to attack the properties, and worship places of minorities. These matters are such that they need to be tackled by the society as whole. The consid­erable responsibility rests on federal and provincial govern­ments to encourage interfaith and social harmony dialogue and rightly denounce when the non-Muslims’ houses and wor­ship places come under attack. All citizens of Pakistan deserve to be treated equally and the respect comes from the consti­tution.

During the proceedings, the leaders of Sikh community in­formed the Court that Gurd­waras and Mandir which are in the control of ETPB are not be­ing preserved. They apprised that there are two categories of Gurdwara and Mandir; one is the place of worship, while the other are very old and have be­come historical heritage.

The Court noted that such categories need to be protect­ed and preserved not only for the adherence of faith, but those also demonstrating the rich cultural heritage of Paki­stan. The representative of the ETPB informed that the places of worship properties of Sikh and Hindu have been complet­ed and finalised. He also sub­mitted the volumous report.

The Court noted that the re­port appears to be a simple list of properties, which are man­aged by the ETPB. The chief justice told the ETPB represen­tative that the Court requires that the separate categories of Gurdwaras and the Mandir and the place associated with their religions, but managed by the Board. The bench therefore di­rected him to put up such in­formation on ETPB website, so that it is accessible to every­one. All the revenue author­ities were directed to assist the ETPB. In case the property is in litigation then the same be marked and mentioned in the report. The Board repre­sentative was given six weeks to complete the report.