Held captive: Chained for 30 years

Forty-five-year-old recovered from brother’s detention.

ABBOTABAD:

Sitting in the narrow corridors of the Ayub Medical Complex in Abbottabad, a petite 45-year-old man gazed with hollow eyes — as if gaping into a bottomless abyss.

Muhammad Sabir is victim of a three-decade-long captivity by his own brother. When authorities found him in the urban limits Havelian tehsil on Sunday evening, his limbs were chained and fastened to a pillar in an open courtyard.

Station House Officer (SHO) Adalat Khan of the Havelian Police Station, acting on an intelligence tip about a secret captivity case, raided Farjad’s house in Mohalla Ali Zaman Khan.

“The man was chained and fastened with a pillar in the open during the day. However, in the evening the victim would be shifted to a cattle pen to spend the night,” SHO Khan revealed, adding that an inquiry had been launched to unearth the motives behind the captivity.

Having been held under captivity for over 30 years – and after being forced to live in the cold and then with animals in unhygienic conditions not suitable for human beings – Sabir is not only physically fragile, but has also contracted psychological ailments.

Upon questioning, Sabir’s brother Farjad alleged that he chained his brother for approximately 30 years because he believed Sabir was ‘mentally ill’. Farjad further justified his illegal actions by claiming that Sabir had attempted to assault some women of the family in the past.

The SHO told The Express Tribune that although the victim’s brother gave his justifications, holding someone captive was a crime under the law.

The SHO added that the victim appeared to be “malnourished and sick” following his inhumane captivity conditions.

Some independent sources told The Express Tribune that the victim used to work as daily wage earner – having studied up to grade five – when his brother chained him after declaring him “mentally retarded”.

“We thought Sabir had left the locality and moved to some other city,” said a resident of the locality, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Reasons for captivity

Another resident of the area said Sabir’s family owned some agriculture land and a house as property which was to be shared between the two brothers as inheritance. Some suggested that the victim was detained illegally to facilitate usurpation and deprive him of his inheritance.

Advocate Muhammad Siddique termed the captivity ‘illegal’ and said that the accused was liable to be punished. Ahsan Khan, a human rights activists, condemned the horrific act and termed it ‘violation of basic of human rights’.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2012.