112 suspects in Khanewal tragedy arrested: Ashrafi

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Ulema Council Chairman and Special Representative of Prime Minister Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi has said 112 suspects in Khanewal tragedy have been arrested.

“Incidents like Sialkot and Khanewal are unacceptable and all sections of the society should play their role in eradicating such instances,” he said while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday. He said the Paigham-e-Pakistan Peace Committees are being constituted at the union council level across the country, adding that there is an urgent need to carry out intellectual and ideological struggle with objectives to eradicate the menace of extremism and terrorism. “The police and security agencies have played a vital role in the Sialkot tragedy,” he said.

He said the treatment meted out to the police after the Model Town tragedy needs to be changed. “There is a need to ensure cooperation with the police and security agencies at all levels to uphold the rule of law,” he said. He pointed out that the release of Qandeel Baloch's killer has stressed that the justice system needs to be reformed.

“The release of Qandeel Baloch's killer can be a source of encouragement for those who kill people in the name of honour and that this fault is related to the system,” he said. He said there is a unanimous voice of the entire nation in the Sialkot and Khanewal tragedies that the culprits be punished immediately. He said the chief justice of Pakistan is very keen and incisive and cognitive of the prevailing circumstances in the country. “We request that a speedy trial be ordered for these incidents, and there should be a speedy trial of cases of blasphemy and the cases of abuse with women,” he said.

Responding to a question, he said the court proceedings are under way against the perpetrators of the Sialkot tragedy. Similar efforts are being made to arrest the culprits involved in the Khanewal incident.

“The Darul Afta Pakistan has issued a fatwa that if anyone commits a crime, the power to punish belongs only to the judiciary,” he said, adding that Ulema have also raised voice in this regard that no one should take law into his own hands.

In response to another question, he said the murder case of Qandeel Baloch has been resolved according to the existing laws but after the murder it was clear that the parents would forgive their son. In this perspective, he said, there is a need to reform the judicial system. “This very case has clearly indicated that this fault does not relate to justice system but to the system in the society,” he said.