Spurning friendship offer costs 16-year-old his life

A 16-year-old boy was killed in Peshawar’s Shahpur area for not befriending another person.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Gul Rehman disappeared from the house four days ago. His family had lodged a report at Shahpur Police Station and Edhi Centers.

While collecting information about Rehman from his friends and close relatives, the police found out that another man named Sher Akbar was missing from the village since the day Rehman got lost.

Police managed to trace the whereabouts of Akbar through his mobile phone data. Upon being interrogated, he confessed killing Rehman and throwing his body in the fields.

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According to SP Rural, the police is awaiting a medical report for investigating if Rehman was sexually assaulted before being killed or not.

However, the initial autopsy did not confirm any form of abuse.

While speaking to media, ASP Chamkani Ahmed Zunair Cheema said that Rehman was a rickshaw driver who, according to initial investigation was killed for not befriending Akbar.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2021.