DIG, SSP accused in Sialkot Jail case made OSDs

Staff Report

LAHORE: Malik Muhammad Iqbal, the Multan deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, and Raja Munawwar, the Gujrat district police officer (DPO), accused in Sialkot Jail shootout case of July 25, 2003, have been made officers on special duty (OSDs), said an official announcement on Saturday.

The third main accused Amjad Javed Salimi, the former Sialkot DPO, had already been made OSD. All the three police officers along with two Allama Iqbal Memorial Hospital doctors, Dr Firdous and Dr Sajid, escaped from the courtroom when a Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench consisting of Justice Khawaja Muhmmad Sharif and Justice Tanveer Bashir Ansari cancelled their interim bail on January 26.

Five prisoners took several judges hostage when a judges’ team headed by the Sialkot district and sessions judge was on a routine monthly jail inspection on July 25, 2003. The Sialkot police, headed by DIG Malik Iqbal, SSP Raja Munawwar and SSP Amjad Javed Saleemi, had stormed the prison to rescue the judges but four civil judges and five prisoners were killed in the ensuing shootout. The Sialkot senior civil judge lodged an FIR against 26 people including the DIG, SSPs, 12 Elite commandoes, and the doctors.

Earlier, all the three senior police officers and two doctors along with 12 Elite commandoes had escaped from the Gujranwala anti-terrorism court when the judge had cancelled their interim bail. However, an LHC division bench had granted them interim bail, which was also cancelled on Wednesday, but they again managed to escape.

The LHC bench headed by Justice Sharif, however, confirmed interim bail to 12 Elite commandoes, saying they were only obeying the orders by their seniors while the DIG and SSPs had been ordered by the additional home secretary and the LHC not to launch the operation until further orders, but they ignored the orders and stormed the prison.

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