Lahore High Court orders judicial inquiry into murder of Christian brothers

LAHORE - Taking note of the broad daylight murder of two Christian brothers who were charged for blasphemy outside the Faislabad court premises, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Unidentified gunmen had shot dead Pastor Rashid Emmanuel and his brother Sajid, and also left their police escort critically wounded, as they were leaving the court after a hearing on Monday.

Acting on the Punjab government’s appeal, LHC Chief Justice Khwaja Mohammad Sharif appointed Faisalabad Labour Court District and Sessions Judge Sheikh Mohammad Yousaf to conduct an inquiry into the shocking incident, The Dawn reports.

Earlier, during a sou motu hearing of the case, Faisalabad Regional Police Officer (RPO) Aftab Ahmad Cheema submitted a report to the court, and admitted that the assassination took place due to the negligence and inefficiency of police officers who were in charge of security arrangements for the killed Christian brothers.

Meanwhile, federal minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti said that the government has directed all provincial governments to provide proper security cover to all blasphemy accused.

“They should be provided protection in jails as well as on the occasion of their production before trial courts,” Bhatti said.

“Nobody would be allowed to resort to the law of the jungle and kill innocent people on the basis of false accusations. It was the job of the court to try the accused and decide the case in accordance with the provisions of the law,” he told reporters during a press conference. (ANI)