Family and relatives of a 2022 car accident case victim staged a sit-in outside the National Press Club in Islamabad on Thursday and warned that they would march towards D-Chowk – iconic public square – if demands are not met.

“If our demands are not met, we will move towards D-Chowk from here,” Rafaqat Ali, father of the victim, said while appearing on Aaj News show Rubaroo. “We will protest until the murderer of my son is arrested.”

The protesters demanded action against those responsible for the death of Shakeel Tanooli in the car accident two years ago.

Rafaqat Ali’s son Shakeel Tanoli and his colleague Hasnain Ali both were waiters at Savor Foods. They were going home on June 8, 2022 midnight when they were hit by a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) allegedly driven by a woman.

The woman left the vehicle on the spot and fled from the scene. The police took the car into custody. But a Lahore High Court official returned the car back on superdari (interim disposal).

In 2023, Rafaqat informed the court that the suspect and the heirs of Hasnain settled the matter out of court. He claimed that the family members of the suspect also came to his house in Mansehra district and warned him of dire consequences if he pursued the case.

“A government vehicle hit my son Shakeel Tanoli and his friend Hasnain Ali when they were walking on the sidewalk,” Rafaqat Ali told Rubaroo host Shaukat Piracha via video link from the protest site. He also shared the vehicle number that allegedly hit the two victims.

According to Ali, the-then Punjab government had given the vehicle to the Lahore High Court. He claimed that the vehicle was under the use of Justice Malik Shehzad Ahmed Khan.

Ali alleged that the judge’s daughter was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident.

Apart from approaching courts, he said that the family also filed petitions under Section 22-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) that “the three authorities would not interfere into the allotted field of jurisdiction of one another.”

He said that they had approached the Islamabad High Court on the federal capital police’s alleged laxity in the proceedings.

When asked, Ali said that the challan report was not presented in the court and the suspect was not arrested.