Murders send shockwaves through Peshawar

A string of heinous murders of young girls, occuring in quick succession during July, has left the population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) rattled and worrying for the safety of their children, with many questioning the efficacy of the provincial police.

Even after two weeks, families of 11-year-old Mahnoor, who was raped and then murdered on 4th July, and 8-year-old Hiba, who was sexually abused and then strangled to death on 17th July, await for the local police to make arrests.

Muhammad Nazir, father of Mahnoor, the girl who was raped and murdered in Railway Colony in the Saddar area, with tears in his eyes, told the Express Tribune, said that he was unsure when there would be any leads in his daughter’s case and the police was silent. Nazir, who initially protested in front of Peshawar railway station with his daughter’s dead body to demand justice, implored, “I want justice. The murderer should be apprehended immediately.”

Muhammad Zakaria, father of Hiba, who was found outside the mosque in front of the Kalibari temple in Saddar, shares Nazir’s pain and suffering. “The police investigation has not even moved an inch. Our demand is simple that the murderer should be publicly hanged,” a distraught Zakaria begged.

An official of the Peshawar police, when asked about the status of the two investigations, told The Express Tribune under the condition of anonymity, “DNA samples have been sent to the lab and after that arrests will be made with the assistance of the Intelligence Bureau.” However, when asked why the investigations had been held up for nearly two weeks now, the official conceded that the investigative teams lacked expertise in such crimes. “Such cases require that the police set up a camp and monitor visitors 24 hours a day and home profiling should be done expeditiously. Only then can the police generate leads.”

The Express Tribune also asked the Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Operations, Kashif Aftab Abbasi, about the investigations and was told that home profiling in Mahnoor’s case was ongoing. “DNA samples have been collected and suspects have been arrested. Peshawar Police is working day and night on these cases for the last two weeks and soon we will identify the murderers.”

However, Abbasi’s update on the cases has done little to ease the fears of the local population, as apart from the murders, recently a 5-year-old girl was raped in the Saddar area of the city. Nafisa Bibi, a resident of inner-city Peshawar, terming the recent incidents as “utterly horrifying” was of the view that the city’s children were no longer safe, adding that she was no longer comfortable sending her children out to play despite the summer holidays.

Similarly, Kashif Khan, resident of Saddar, where all three incidents took place, told the Express Tribune that people are terrified. “Saddar is a trade center; people travel from far-off places to shop here but lately women have started avoiding it. Everyone is just incredibly afraid.”

While the residents are shocked beyond measure, Nighat Orakzai, Member of the Provincial Assembly, in a recent debate in the Assembly regarding the murders, demanded answers from the police. “Atrocious incidents are happening in the very heart of Peshawar. Young girls are being killed every Sunday, right under our noses. A thorough investigation should be conducted to find out what the police are doing.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2022.