CHAKWAL: A watcher from the wildlife department was allegedly beaten up by officials of the Kallar Kahar police.

According to a senior official of the wildlife department, Naveed Aslam caught a poacher in the Surla game reserve near Khai Dam and recovered a partridge, crane and a dove from his possession and confiscated his gun.

The watcher was on his way to the wildlife department office in Kallar Kahar when he was stopped by a police team headed by Sub-inspector Mohammad Irfan near the Bhoun village.

“The police officials inquired about the confiscated gun. The watcher introduced himself and showed them his service card and official motorbike. He told them that he had confiscated the gun from a poacher,” the official added.

“But the sub-inspector ordered his subordinates to beat the watcher,” the official alleged. After beating the watcher, the police officials put him in their private car and took him to the Kallar Kahar police station.

“When the incident came to the notice of District Wildlife Officer Khalid Hassan Sahi, he contacted District Police Officer (DPO) Mohammad Haroon Joiya,” the official said. On the intervention of the DPO, the watcher was released.

According to the official, the watcher had caught the father-in-law of SI Irfan while poaching endangered Urial in 2015. At that time, SI Irfan unsuccessfully tried to save his father-in-law from being fined.

In his application to the DPO, the watcher alleged that SI Irfan avenged that incident by torturing him.

When contacted, the district wildlife officer termed the incident highly condemnable.

“Naveed Aslam is one of the best cops of our department who was shot injured by an influential poacher in 2009 and the chief minister awarded him with a cash prize of Rs50,000 for showing bravery,” he added.

When approached by Dawn, SI Irfan termed the incident the result of misunderstanding.

“We stopped the watcher when we saw him carrying a gun. He did not tell us he had confiscated the gun from a poacher rather claimed that he owned it. But when we asked him to produce a licence, he could not.” He claimed that the watcher was detained over suspicion of carrying an illegal weapon.

“When the situation got clear we released him,” he said, adding linking this with the 2015 incident was absolutely wrong.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2017