Youth buys ring for fiancée, dies hours later

Wajahat, 26, was killed Tuesday night at Sohrab Goth's cattle market over parking dispute

KARACHI: The mother of 26-year-old Wajahat Azhar Siddiqui never imagined that she would have to mourn the death of her son the same day when he bought a gold ring for his fiancée.

Wajahat, who was an aeronautical engineer in Pakistan International Airlines, was beaten to death on Tuesday night over a parking dispute in Sohrab Goth's cattle market. Some men wearing masks thrashed him with sticks and beat him up with punches and kicks, which resulted in his death.

Wajahat used to visit the cattle market daily to help his uncle, Mubashir Aijaz, who had set up a stall there.



"On the day of the incident, he went with his friend and colleague, Sadequain, to buy a sacrificial animal," his mother told The Express Tribune at her residence.

According to Wajahat's mother, the two men first picked Wajahat's cousin, Ashar (Mubashir's son), and went on their motorcycle to the cattle market. She quoted Sadequain as saying that when they reached the parking area, they had a small argument with a man on the parking space, which heated up when the parking area's guard held Sadequain by his collar. This is when Wajahat came in and aggressively tried to handle the situation. Things got out of hand and both the men present there started beating Wajahat badly.

Meanwhile, Sadequain called Mubashir and informed him about the incident. Mubashir left his stall but until then the men had taken away Wajahat to a nearby room.

When Mubashir arrived, Sadequain had run away. Upon searching nearby areas, he found four men beating Wajahat badly, narrated the mother while describing Mubashir's version.

She added that Mubashir claimed that he tried to stop them and begged them to leave his nephew when another 10 men came with bamboo sticks and started thrashing Wajahat, leading to his death.

Wajahat's parents came to know about the incident through Sarwar, a guard at the Government Elementary College for Women where Wajahat's mother is a principal, who had come to know what happened through his brother who works at the cattle market.



"My husband and I left for the mandi immediately and were informed on our way by Mubashir that Wajahat has been shifted to Patel hospital as his condition is serious," the mother recalled. "Reaching the hospital and seeing my beautiful, handsome boy turned into a body was the most devastating thing I've seen in my life. My son died two hours before I saw him lying on the hospital's stretcher." She wept holding her face in her hands. The aggrieved woman shared that she had hoped on her way to the hospital that she sees her son alive once even if it meant that he had fractured legs and arms.

The family has registered a case with the police. According to Sachal SHO Qamar Laskani, three men have been arrested while others involved will soon be apprehended. However, he refused to disclose the identities of the arrested men.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2016.