The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Wednesday strongly condemned the police action at the Tahirul Qadri Secretariat on Tuesday, in which eight people were killed, and at least 90 injured.

In a statement, the Commission said: “HRCP condemns in the strongest words possible the unfortunate events on Tuesday in which eight people, including two women, were killed at the Tahirul Qadri Secretariat when the administration reportedly tried to remove some barriers from roads around the place.

“HRCP condoles with the bereaved families and finds it difficult to accept that the fatalities occurred in an exercise aimed at removing encroachments alone. The barriers had been there for a number of years and removing them on the eve of Tahirul Qadri’s arrival in Pakistan has led many to conclude that the move was politically motivated.

This is not the first incident that lack of police training or their inclination for crowd control without violence has been badly exposed. It is not likely to be the last. In fact, Tuesday’s incident makes it abundantly clear that there are no bounds to police brutality in action against political rivals of the parties in power.