MULTAN/BAHAWALPUR: Tauqeer Nazir, the contractor accused of running over a 15-year-old laborer with his car in Multan, was killed in an alleged encounter with Punjab’s Crime Control Department (CCD), according to the department’s district officer.
Police version of the encounter
The CCD says Nazir was in police custody on remand when he escaped. Its officials say he was riding a motorcycle with a companion on the Northern Bypass in Bahawalpur when police tried to stop the two men. The CCD claims they fired on police as they fled, and that Nazir was killed by gunfire from his own accomplice. The second man escaped, and police have not identified him.
Encounters like this, in which suspects are said to be killed by their own accomplices’ fire, have been a recurring feature of CCD reporting. The department has also faced accusations of misconduct, including staged encounters and extrajudicial killings. No independent confirmation of the CCD’s account of Nazir’s death has been found.
The original incident
Wasim Abbas, 15, died after being hit by a vehicle in the Royal Orchard housing scheme in Multan. Police arrested Nazir at the scene and registered a murder case. The case drew wide attention after activists shared CCTV footage on social media. The footage mainly shows the aftermath, with a white van-like vehicle on a residential street, people gathered and a body on the ground, rather than the collision itself.
Social media accounts claimed Wasim had travelled to Multan to learn electrical wiring and was working at a house when a dispute allegedly arose over delays in completing the work. Urdu reports say the boy was an orphan who no longer wanted to work for Nazir because of his abusive treatment. Authorities have not publicly established these allegations.
Court appearance and attack by lawyers
A judicial magistrate had sent Nazir to police on a four-day remand. Urdu reports say lawyers assaulted him during his court appearance.
What remains unclear
The CCD’s account has not been independently verified. It is not yet clear how Nazir came to be on a motorcycle in Bahawalpur while on remand. A court-ordered inquiry or an independent investigation could answer those questions, and no such inquiry has been announced.