House of the Seven Sisters: Satiyan Jo Asthan custodian succumbs to burn injuries

Caretaker Shoukat Khawajai was attacked on May 10 over his job.

SUKKUR:

Shoukat Khawajai, a writer and the caretaker of Satiyan Jo Asthan (House of the Seven Sisters), died in hospital and was laid to rest near the sisters’ tomb on Saturday.

On May 10, unidentified men flung acid at him as he was sitting in his drawing room in Makki Shah Muhalla. He suffered 60 per cent burns and was treated for a month in Karachi at Civil hospital when he passed away Friday night.

Khawajai’s son Nazakat Ali Khawajai registered an FIR against Abad Hussain Farooqi, his son Aftab Hussain Farooqi and Azizullah Katpar, with the Section C police station, Sukkur. The police arrested Azizullah Katpar, but the two others are still at large. Katpar was granted bail after a hearing.

Suhail, Khawajai’s other son, told The Express Tribune that Abad Farooqi of Ranipur asked him to relinquish his duty as the caretaker and hand it over to the Farooqi family. When Khawajai refused, Abad Farooqi threatened him.

The Rohri police intervened and asked both parties to settle the matter. However, Suhail claims that “the very next day, the accused threw acid on my father.”

Suhail told The Express Tribune that his father’s left eye had been damaged. When he was attacked Khawajai was reading a book near the window as there was no electricity.

Suhail claims that a culture department officer gave the family a cheque of Rs100,000 after his father was admitted to the burns ward. Khawajai was born in 1956 and was 55 years old when he died. He is survived by his wife, four sons and a daughter. His case was a high-profile one with the Sindhi Adabi Sangat volunteering to pursue the case.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2011.