LAHORE: A suspect was wounded by firing from his own accomplices during an alleged police encounter in the Kahna area of Lahore, police said.
According to police, the injured suspect has been identified as Usman. He was shifted to General Hospital for medical treatment.
Police said two of the suspect’s accomplices managed to flee the scene and that a search for them is under way.
The version described by police — a suspect struck by fire from his own side during an exchange — is a recurring feature of encounter reporting in Punjab, and one that is examined closely in the subsequent judicial process. Encounters are required to be reported to the concerned magistrate, with the weapon, empties recovered from the scene and the medico-legal report forming part of the record.
The Punjab Police issue instructions from time to time requiring that the site of an encounter be preserved, that empties be recovered and sent for forensic matching, and that the injured be shifted for medical treatment without delay. Ballistic matching of recovered casings against the weapons of the parties involved is the principal technical means by which the sequence of firing is later established.
Where a suspect is injured during an exchange of fire, a separate case is generally registered in relation to the encounter itself, in addition to the case for which the person was being pursued. If the injury is caused by an accomplice, that accomplice can be made an accused in the resulting case.
Human rights organisations in Pakistan have long called for independent scrutiny of police encounters, arguing that the absence of external review weakens accountability. Successive provincial administrations have responded by tightening internal reporting requirements rather than establishing a separate investigative mechanism.
Police have not disclosed what offence the suspect was wanted for, whether weapons were recovered from the scene, or whether the two men who escaped have been identified. The condition of the injured suspect at General Hospital has also not been described beyond his transfer for treatment.
Further details are expected once the medico-legal report is received and the case record is completed.
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