Arrests made for Afghan family murder

RAWALPINDI: The four people who had been murdered in Mukaram Town, jurisdiction of Westridge police station, have been identified, say police.

They were Afghans who belonged to a musical group travelling with fake national identity cards and passports. The police have arrested two youngsters belonging to the same musical group and implicated five others. Police are in search of a man named Ejaz, who they suspect killed the artists. One of the murdered, Muskaan, was engaged to Ejaz and it is suspected that he killed the four artists either because of a grudge or for ‘honour’, because he disapproved of her profession (dancer). He had allegedly helped the victims in renting the house.

Police teams have been sent to Peshawar searching for Ejaz. Other than Muskaan, head of the family Shahid, his wife Sana and his seven-yearold son Faisal were murdered. Shahid had just married Sana as his second wife on April 26. Police had originally been unable to identify the victims because the addresses on their identity cards were incorrect. Later police traced calls made from and to the house and managed to identify Ejaz.

Two people identified as Imran and Asif have been arrested from Rawalpindi as they were companions of Ejaz and used to participate in musical programmes. During investigations, they revealed that Ejaz had contacted them and asked questions about Muskaan and the rented house. According to police, Shahid alias Shakeel used to perform as an instrumentalist while Muskaan would dance.

Police are also investigating singers and organisers Shahbo, Daado and Sultan. The two arrested artists said that Ejaz has gone into hiding. Police are unable to trace Ejaz because it is suspected that he has fake identification documents. It is suspected that Ejaz is somewhere in Peshawar and the Nadra office has been contacted.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 18th, 2010.