KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — PAS said it has set up a committee to collect the names of the families of people killed in the 1985 Memali tragedy.
PAS vice-president Idris Ahmad told local daily Utusan Malaysia that the Islamist party has also appointed several lawyers to help the victims’ families.
“The families of the victims sent a letter to the Home Ministry two days ago asking the government not to reject setting up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the Memali incident.
“They want the case to be reopened and investigated transparently because many were persecuted during the incident that happened 32 years ago,” he was quoted saying.
In 1985, a police force numbering 200 besieged Memali, a village in the Kedah district of Baling, targeting a Muslim sect founded by Ibrahim Mahmud @ Ibrahim Libya, who was also a PAS leader.
The incident resulted in the deaths of 14 civilians and four policemen. The government tabled a White Paper in Parliament on November 20 1985, a day after the killings.
