ISLAMABAD, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Police in the Pakistani capital on Wednesday registered murder cases against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and several federal ministers in the killing of opposition activists during the anti-government protests in Islamabad, police and lawyers said.
A local court had ordered the police on Monday to register the cases against the prime minister and 11 other top officials including the interior minister, the defence minister, the railways minister, chief commissioner Islamabad, the police chief in Islamabad and five other people.
Pakistan Awami Tehrik or PAT led by a religious leader, Tahir ul Qadri, had approached the court to register cases of the killing of its two workers in police action on August 31 and September 1.
Clashes had erupted between the demonstrators and the riot police when the protesters tried to march on the Prime Minister's House. At least two protesters were killed and some 500 people, including dozens of police men, were injured in the clashes.
No one has so far been arrested and legal experts said that registration of cases did not mean the nominated people were guilty.
Lawyers said the police now formally approached the Islamabad administration to initiate inquiry into the case.
The PAT party in its application had requested the court to register murder cases against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, two federal ministers, the Islamabad police chief and several more personalities.
A local court in Islamabad, in a short order, this week instructed the police to take necessary action on the application in line with the law.
Police in Islamabad said they will challenge the lower court's verdict after a detailed judgment is issued in the case.
Earlier the Islamabad police in a report had told the court that the people mentioned in the application had nothing to do with the police action and that there had been no evidence about their involvement in the incident.
A government's defence lawyer said the police did not have arms and they had only used rubber bullets to deal with the emergency situation.
A lawyer for the petitioner said that the police had "opened direct firing on the demonstrators and also used expired tear gas. " He questioned the police action when the government had deployed army troops for the protection of important buildings.
It is the second time a judge has ordered registration of murder cases against the prime minister and several other ministers.
Last month, a court had ordered registration of murder case against the prime minister and 20 more people over the killing of a dozen of PAT activists in the eastern city of Lahore in June.
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