Abbottabad burning case: Girl’s father accuses opponents of harassment

Says they stopped doing so after police threatened them of dire consequences

ABBOTTABAD: The father of a teenage girl who was burnt to death in Galiyat accused the opponent party of harassing his family. However, he subsequently said they stopped doing so after he complained to the police.

Father of the girl sent a video message to journalists, saying the family members of the accused party had disconnected the water supply line to his house and were harassing his wife and other relatives whenever they went to fetch water from a natural spring on the outskirts of the village.

“They use abusive language and threaten us of dire consequences whenever my wife and other relatives go to fetch water from the natural spring,” the father said in the message.

He added family members of Saeed — one of the accused now behind bars over charges of burning the girl — were responsible for harassing them only to pressurise them to resolve the matter outside the court.



When contacted, the father told The Express Tribune the incident happened last week. The police raided the area after he complained about the matter and the accused party stopped harassing his family members.

Compensation

To a question, he said his son was studying in class 10 and would start working either at Governor House or Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly after completing matriculation.

He added he had received the appointment letter for his son from the office of the chief minister.

While commenting on the situation, Galiyat DSP Jamilur Rehman confirmed the complaint regarding harassment.

He added after receiving the complaint he sent a police party to Makol Payen village.

According to Rehman, the personnel warned the accused party to stop harassing the family otherwise legal action would be taken against them. He said after his action there was no complaint from the girl’s father or his family.

Rewind

The teenage girl was sedated and then strangled. After that her body was set ablaze in a high roof van in Makol Payen village during the wee hours of April 29.

According to the Abbottabad police, she had been punished as per a jirga’s decision for helping a girl elope from the same village a couple of days earlier to her murder.

The police arrested 16 accused, including the mother of girl, and over nine were still in Mansehra district jail while others were given bail. After the incident, the provincial government had announced its decision to become party in the case and provide free legal assistance to the family.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2016.