Nine family members butchered in their sleep

Nine members of a family, including two women and five children slaughtered by unidentified persons.

MANDI BAHAUDDIN: Nine members of a family, including two women and five children were slaughtered by unidentified persons in Basti Makhdoom in the limits of Qadirabad police station on Wednesday morning.

According to police officials, the members of the ill-fated family were at home when unidentified people broke into their house at 4 am and slaughtered them with knives. Police officials said that they could barely identify the bodies because they were mutilated and butchered beyond recognition. “When we entered the house there was so much blood it took us moments to even identify where the bodies were,” said DPO Abdul Rab.

Police have initially stated that the nine victims include brothers’ Fayyaz Ahmed and Imtiaz Ahmed, Razia Bibi, Kausar Bibi and five children Sohail, Qaisar, Shoaib, Nannia and a toddler.  “We found a note lying near the bodies and that has pointed us towards some leads,” Rab said.

According to police officials the note stated: “You harassed our daughter and didn’t let her leave the house. This is what happens to people who get in our way.”

Police officials suspect that the family was given toxic food which rendered them unconscious. Rab told reporters that they located traces of poisoned food. “That would explain why it seems the victims were unable to put up a struggle. There is no sign of a struggle,” he said.

Police officials have been questioning neighbours and locals in the Qadirabad area and received reports that the note refers to a woman named Misbah.  Locals said that two years ago one of the brothers who was not in the city, Riaz Ahmed, married a girl named Misbah from Mojzian Wala. “He purchased the girl for over Rs35,000. She was a divorcee and as far we know the couple didn’t get along. They fought publicly,” said neighbour Sadiq.  Police suspect that the murderers could be men from Misbah’s family.

“The girl was here until yesterday because we saw her in the afternoon. After that she went missing. I am not sure if she escaped or if she was abducted,” Sadiq said. DPO Abdul Rab said that the police suspected that the woman was involved in the killings. “These are very brutal murder and we suspect that the woman was involved in inciting her family against her in-laws,” Rab said, adding that the police was currently investigating the whereabouts of Misbah and her family but had not yet managed to locate them.

Police also said that they were pursuing a lead regarding Misbah’s sister who lived near the area. “We have sent people to her house but she has vanished which makes us suspect that she was part of the plan,” he said. Police said that they had sent the bodies to Tehsil Phalia Hospital and were waiting on an autopsy report regarding the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2011.