Rising toll: Series of seven murders in 11 days rock capital

Police stumped for answers as another body discovered on Sunday

ISLAMABAD: Despite tall claims from the police, hardly a day goes by without a body being found dumped or a person being murdered in the capital
these days.

On Sunday, the body of a 22-year-old man was found dumped near Chungi No26 within the jurisdiction of Golra Police Station.

This was the seventh murder in the capital this month alone.

Police said the body had been identified as Shamsuddin, who hailed from North Waziristan.

The victim’s father, Mohyuddin, told police that his son had left home last month hoping to find work in the capital.

Mohyuddin told police that on December 7, he received a call from an Afghanistan phone number. The caller on the other end of the line told him that Shamsuddin’s body was lying in a shed near Chungi No 26 in Islamabad.

Shocked, Mohyuddin and a few other relatives rushed to Islamabad. After searching for a while, they found the body in the shed where the caller had indicated. However, Shamsuddin’s face had been mutilated by his killers.

Police, however, are clueless about the culprits.

Since the start of December, Islamabad Police have registered seven murder cases including three at Sabzi Mandi station, and one each at Kohsar, Aabpara, Koral and Golra police stations.

Heinous trend

On December 1, a man was gunned down by unidentified persons on the main IJP Road intersection near Sabzi Mandi. Police said the assailants pulled up alongside him and shot him once in the head. The same bullet, police said, went on to hit an 18-year-old woman who was passing by while riding pillion on a motorcycle. Ali died on the way to a hospital while the woman suffered a critical bullet injury to her neck.

The same day, a man identified as Faizullah was gunned down in Sector I-10/1. In this case, police have booked four people on the complaint of the victim’s wife.

On December 2, a labourer was stabbed to death by a fellow labourer over dispute of just Rs600 at CDA stop near Sector I-10.

Then on December 5, Kohsar police discovered the dumped body of a 40-year-old man near Daman-e-Koh. Police said the man, Muhammad Zaryab Abbasi, had been missing since October 18. Police believe the man was murdered and later his face had been defaced with acid.

On December 8, a 34-year-old man was gunned by unidentified motorcyclists near Tramri Chowk. Then on December 9, landlord Nisarul Haq was shot dead inside his hotel in Sitara Market. The killers managed to flee.

Police say a group of four people who ran the hotel on contract reportedly killed the landlord. None of the suspects has been arrested yet.

Two ‘drug addicts’ found dead

Apart from these seven murders, police have found two bodies over the last 11 days. One of the two bodies, found in Madina Town in Khanna police jurisdiction, was identified as Usman while the other found near Faizabad has yet to be identified and was temporarily buried. Police said that both the men were drug addicts and ruled out any foul play.

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