Shikarpur Hindu killings: Bhayo men handed back to police custody

Woman claiming to be Seema Bhayo surfaces.

SUKKUR: Seven of the 11 men arrested in the Shikarpur Hindu killing case were handed back to the police for questioning for an extra five days by a court on Thursday.

Their first stint behind bars having ended, they were produced in the court of the Jacobabad anti-terrorism judge. They are facing charges of killing three Hindus in Chak on Eid ostensibly to avenge the honour of the Bhayo tribe over the romantic involvement of one of their girls.

The FIR names 11 men, but the police have arrested only seven so far. They are Moulvi Ehsanullah Bhayo, Mohammad Aslam Bhayo, Moulvi Naeem Bhayo, Ubaidullah Bhayo, Abdul Latif Bhayo, Abdul Ghani Bhayo and Abdul Rauf Bhayo. According to Lakhi Ghulam Shah DSP Zahid Mirani, the police asked to keep them in custody for five more days.

The officer told the court that they are still hunting for the other men. Meanwhile, the young woman at the centre of the case, Seema Bhayo, was reported to have spoken to a hand-picked group of journalists at an undisclosed place on Wednesday night.

According to a Shikarpur-based journalist, Seema was accompanied by a man introduced as her father, Nazir Ahmed Bhayo, and her mother. The Express Tribune could not immediately independently verify if this was indeed the actual Seema Bhayo and if her allegations of rape were produced under duress.

The Shikarpur journalist, who doesn’t want his name to be published, said that it seemed that this young woman was being held captive and that she was being forced to give such a statement.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th,  2011.