Family politics: Women accuse each other’s families of killing, abducting relatives

In another case, niece accuses uncle of conning her into giving details for fake CNIC

PESHAWAR: Two women from the same family showed up at Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, seeking the media’s help to resolve their family dispute. The women accused each other’s relatives of abduction and murder.

Nighat had come to the press club with her brother Lehar Asif’s children. Lehar is in jail at the moment for allegedly murdering their other brother  Sher Asif.

Nighat accused Gul Raja, Sher’s wife, of killing him. She also accused Sher’s son-in-law of kidnapping Lehar’s son so as to pressurise Lehar’s family and solve the tussle they have
with Raja.

On the other hand, Raja said her daughter was kidnapped by Lehar’s family to blackmail them into dropping charges
against Lehar.

The background

The tussle began when Lehar called Sher and told him his wife was not loyal to him in his absence. Sher was posted somewhere outside Peshawar as he was in the army.



In the events that followed, a fight within the family ensued; leaving Sher murdered in the end.

Though Nighat accused Raja of killing her brother Sher, Raja had an entirely different story to tell. She said Lehar killed him because Sher was about to receive his pension, and Lehar wanted to take all of it. “When he said no, Lehar killed my husband,” she told the media.

Fraud

In a separate news conference, Firasat Bibi, a resident of Swabi, told the media she was conned into giving her thumbprints and photograph that were later used to make a fake CNIC.

Though the identity card had her picture and her thumb prints, it included the information of her aunt Nasreen who has been missing for over 47 years.

Bibi said she was fooled by her uncle Sahib Jan, who used her details to get the CNIC made in Nasreen’s name. She alleged Jan did so in order to take over property that was in Nasreen’s name. She accused her uncle of selling the property and depriving legal heirs from receiving their fair share.

According to Bibi, she only found out about the fraud when she went to a NADRA office to get her CNIC made as she had not received the previous one which she accused her uncle of taking in her stead.

“Anti-corruption department as well as the federal investigation agency also failed to provide us justice,” she told the media. She requested the prime minister, chief minister and federal interior minister to intervene and provide her justice.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st,  2016.