On Wednesday, March 8, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf claimed that one of its activists and workers – Ali Bilal, also popularly known as ‘Zille Shah’, had been allegedly murdered by the Punjab Police.
While the claim was outrightly refused by the government and the authorities concerned both of whom opined that Bilal had died in an accident and that the PTI was using his death for political point scoring, the evidence that emerged later all hinted towards the fact that he had indeed died under the custody of Punjab Police.
WHO WAS ALI BILAL AKA ZILLE SHAH?
The 40-year-old Zille Shah hailed from a middle-class family in Lahore. He had four siblings including two brothers, two sisters. He was a differently-abled person with special needs.
A resident of Jehangir Town, he had been present at the Zaman Park camp ever since it was announced that an attempt at Imran Khan’s arrest will be made. According to his parents, he loved the PTI and its chairman Imran Khan with a deep passion and they never became a hurdle in his way.
His mother recalls how she would serve him food late night because he would remain present at the Zaman Park, outside the PTI chairman’s residence. With the death of the 40-year-old Zille Shah, the house has been robbed off of its charm.
FATHER TAKEN INTO CUSTODY
PTI has claimed that father of Zille Shah has been taken into custody. The party is accusing the government and the powers that be of using backhanded techniques in order to force him to make a statement that could be used in the court to absolve them of all the blame.
While The Upcut is yet to verify the veracity of the claims, there remains no doubt following the postmortem report that Zille Shah died after being subjected to brutal torture by the Punjab Police.
POST PORTEM REPORT OF ZILLE SHAH
With a lot said back and forth by the PTI and the Punjab Police in the background, the emergence of the post mortem report has sided with the PTI’s narrative of Zille Shah dying at the hands of Punjab Police. According to the medico-legal experts, his death was a result of blunt trauma to his head.
The report, which is now being widely shared on the social media, says that Zille Shah suffered severe injuries in many other parts of the body.