Joint teams formed to probe Bahawalnagar incident

LAHORE:  The Punjab government has established a joint inquiry team, comprised of officials from the home ministry and security agencies, to investigate the regrettable Bahawalnagar incident.

A Punjab government spokesperson said that any attempts by vested interests to propagate against state institutions will not be allowed.

Meanwhile, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) issued a statement noting that despite the resolution of the issue, certain elements with specific agendas have begun spreading propaganda on social media to sow discord between state institutions and security agencies.

The ISPR announced that a joint inquiry team comprising security and police officials will investigate the incident, focusing on determining responsibility for law violations and misuse of authority.

The inquiry aims to identify accountable parties and establish factual clarity, the ISPR added.

On Wednesday, a series of videos depicting Pakistan Army officers purportedly assaulting and beating up police officers in Bahawalnagar circulated widely on social media. The videos showed disturbing scenes including a man with a bloody nose seated on the ground and another where police were compelled to kneel in a line by army personnel.

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According to some social media users, the incident stemmed from police confiscating an illegal weapon from a relative of a soldier. The footage sparked an outcry from politicians and garnered significant attention online.

Earlier, Punjab police denounced what they termed as “fake propaganda,” asserting that the incident had been mischaracterized and exaggerated. “The matter in Bahawalnagar, which went viral on social media, has been taken out of context and exaggerated,” stated the police in a communication on a platform previously known as Twitter.