Though the capital police made arrests in connection with the recent display of anti-judiciary banners in the capital city, they are still clueless about the motive behind the campaign against a Supreme Court judge.

In May this year, banners inscribed with slogans against the superior judiciary were found hanging in different localities of the capital city. The banners annoyed the judges as it carried insulting remarks against one of them.

Most of the banners were found in the jurisdiction of the Aabpara and Kohsar police. The Aabpara police rounded up scores of painters to reach the person who had got the banners painted. During the investigation, the painters told the police that the handwriting on the banners was that of another painter who owned a shop in the Banni area of Rawalpindi.

The police raided the shop and arrested the owner along with his two employees. After the arrest, a case was registered with the Aabpara police on May 27 on the complaint of a police official.

The arrested painter told the police that he was given an order by a man to paint 15 banners inscribed with separate written materials.

He said he charged Rs9,000 for the banners and displayed them at the locations which the order placer had identified.Later, the police raided the house of the suspect on the address provided by the painter but found it locked.

The police took five weeks to arrest the man a day before the inspector general of the police (IGP), Aftab Ahmed Cheema, was to appear before the Supreme Court in connection with the case.

According to the police, the suspect was a religious extremist but the investigators failed to establish the reason why he had displayed the banners.

When the police submitted their report and informed the apex court about the arrest, the court expressed its dissatisfaction over the investigation and directed the IGP to ascertain the reason behind the display of the anti-judiciary banners.

A senior police officer told Dawn that the IGP was of the view that the police had arrested the suspect which should have been enough to satisfy the court.

The court set aside the police report and asked the IGP to investigate the motive behind the display of the banners.

The apex court observed that the judges had repeatedly expressed their concerns that the police had not been serious in investigating the case.

The case was registered on May 27 after which the police file showed an extreme lack of diligence in investigating the case and bringing the culprits to book.

“Two accused were arrested on May 27 and the main suspect was identified more than one month ago,” the SC stated, adding that it was unfortunate that due to lack of efforts and investigation the main accused was arrested a day before the case was set to be taken up by the court.

The IGP is not in a position to explain why the police had failed to properly investigate the case, the court stated, adding that he also conceded that there had been incompetence in the investigation.

“Whoever was involved in spreading the anti-judiciary banners could have also planted bombs or explosive devices at any place in the capital city and escaped without being caught by the police.”

The court directed the IGP to submit an explanation within a week about the reasons behind the incompetence of the police.

“There may have been some attempts to cover up/protect the accused, and the IGP should also comment on this aspect of the case.”

The court order added: “We have seen the police file and it is evident that there have been long periods when no action at all appeared to have been taken in the investigation of the case.”

The remarks of the SC forced the police to investigate the case from the beginning, a police officer said.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2014