THE family of slain Usama Satti has been assured of justice at the highest level after a judicial inquiry has confirmed that it was a hundred percent target killing and not an incident of dacoity as had been the initial version of the police force and plea of the killer cops. The issue echoed in the Senate, cabinet proceedings and also in a meeting of the PM with the family members of Usama and hopefully it would be taken to its logical conclusion.
Personnel of the law-enforcing agencies are generally given benefit of doubt for understandable reasons as, like other human beings, they too are prone to making wrong judgement and decisions taken in good faith are ignored even if they lead to undesired consequences. However, in this case, the judicial inquiry has determined in categorical terms that it was a deliberate killing and the young man was shot from all directions. It says Usama received “multiple gunshots fired at him from all directions, which shows that the officers involved had every intention to kill him.” The report further added that news of Usama Satti’s death was “deliberately hidden from his family for four hours and that the officers involved tried to sweep the matter under the rug” by making attempts to turn it into a robbery case. The issue is serious but so far only some suspensions and transfers have been made raising apprehensions that the culprits might go scot free at the end of the day. This should never happen as it could further erode trust of the people in the ability of both the Government and police force to protect their lives and properties. The inquiry has also pinpointed flaws in the working of the police and absence of clear SOPs which is unfortunate as Islamabad Police is considered to be a role model.
