The level of poison in the political sphere is not just increasing with each episode, it also increases the trust gap and heightens the animosity even more. Each side’s interpretation of the situation now almost violently contradicts the other’s, making it seem increasingly doubtful that any kind of compromise or accord will be reached.
This gap was highlighted further by the news conference held on Saturday by the interim chief minister of Punjab and the IG on the death of PTI employee Ali Bilal.
Contrary to what the PTI leaders said, both officials insisted that he was murdered in a traffic accident that was “sadly misconstrued” and that incarceration torture was not to blame.
When the caretaker setup decided to use force against individuals disobeying Section 144 imposed in Lahore to participate in a gathering to kick off PTI’s campaign for the provincial elections, Bilal was one of the party members who was apprehended by police on Wednesday.
Even before pictures of Bilal’s beaten corpse surfaced later on social media, the optics of PTI employees being subjected to batons, water cannons, and tear gas were appalling.
The post-mortem report, which listed at least 26 injuries and concluded that the deceased had suffered “severe blunt trauma,” supported party president Imran Khan’s allegation that the activist had been tortured to death while in detention.
Custodial torture is a common practise for the Punjab Police, which has a well-established reputation for being a harsh and unaccountable agency. Its actions throughout this incident would barely have altered the public’s impression of it. The police initially asserted that the footage showing Bilal being driven away in the police van was an old one. They changed their tale and claimed that they had discharged Bilal before his body was delivered to a hospital later that day after their initial claim was proven to be false. Later they stated that they had detained two individuals after hearing them say that Bilal had been critically hurt in a collision with their car.
What is the account of those who were present when the alleged accident occurred with the victim? What do the activists who were also detained beside him think of the police’releasing’ him? There are still many unsolved issues.How Bilal died must be determined by an impartial investigation, free from accusations of bias. Yet this incident, starting with the one-day installation of Section 144 in Lahore upon a completely thin basis, also raises serious concerns about the caretaker government’s qualifications as an unbiased judge.
Its coercive tactics against the PTI and the biassed media comments made by some of its ministers in the wake of Bilal’s passing portend poorly for stability in the largest province in the nation.
However, they will strengthen the PTI’s political narrative. The PML-N might wish to consider that.
