Inquiry into stampede, labourer's death in Mirpurkhas ordered.

MIRPURKHAS -- An inquiry into the stampede leading to the death of a labourer and injuries to several other people at Gulistan-i-Baldia Park here has been initiated by the district administration, officials said on Sunday.

The stampede occurred when several hundred men and women, waiting desperately for hours to buy wheat flour at subsidised rate, stormed the food department consignment as soon as it arrived at the designated spot on Saturday. A labourer, Harsingh Kolhi, father of six, was crushed to death during the stampede while several other men and women suffered injuries. The policemen posted at the site to maintain discipline failed to control the crowd. Soon after the stampede was over, a large number of shocked and enraged people present at the site took Kolhi's body to the local press club and held a noisy demonstration over the incident. They demanded registration of a murder case against all officials responsible for the stampede as well as the flour crisis across the province. The demand was supported by all opposition parties and many civil society organisations.

Amid the uproar over the Gulisan-i-Baldia incident, Mirpurkhas Deputy Commissioner Zainul Abideen Memon ordered an inquiry into the whole episode and constituted a four-member committee headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner-II Prem Chand. The other members of the committee are Shuja'abad Assistant Commissioner Saleem Shaikh, a DSP and the official in charge of the local CIA unit.

The committee has been assigned the task of looking into the circumstances leading to the stampede, failure of the area police to maintain discipline at the site and actual cause of Harsingh Kolhi's death.

The committee has been...