Missing person: Family asks kidnappers to release 15-year-old boy
Qurban Shoro’s disappearance is the second within a week from Jamshoro.
HYDERABAD:
As concerns grow about the Supreme Court’s interest or lack thereof in the enforced disappearances in Sindh, another name was added to the list on Thursday when a family from Kotri, Jamshoro held a press conference for 15-year-old Qurban Shoro.
Qurban was kidnapped from a wedding on May 19 and the family has been holding sporadic protests for his safe return ever since.
“We are too poor to pay for a case in the court,” said Aslam Shoro, Qurban’s elder brother who is a driver by profession. “We want to send a message through the media to whoever has taken my brother to release him. We mean no harm to anyone.” Qurban, the youngest among six brothers, worked at a cotton factory.
After 25-year-old Asif Bhutto went missing, Qurban’s disappearance was the second case to surface within a week from Jamshoro. His family believes that the intelligence agencies are involved in his kidnapping. According to police constable Gul Bhatti, who was injured with a gunshot to his thigh while trying to stop the kidnappers, there were four kidnappers who were dressed in plain clothes. They arrived around 3:30 pm in a white Toyota Corolla which did not have a number plate.
“We approached MPA Sikander Shoro for help and he spoke to the SSP who said that the boy is not in the district anymore,” said Muhammad Khan Shoro, the representative of the elders of the village.
The MPA could not be contacted for his version but Jamshoro SSP, Waqar Mallan, told The Express Tribune that the MPA has offered the police’s assistance to the family. Mallan, however, complained that the family is not willing to register an FIR. “Our duty is to file a case and to investigate which can only be done if there is a complainant.”
Aslam insisted that the family is hoping that the kidnappers will listen to their mercy plea as they don’t want to involve the police and court. “Our last resort would be to file a petition in the Sindh High Court.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2012.
As concerns grow about the Supreme Court’s interest or lack thereof in the enforced disappearances in Sindh, another name was added to the list on Thursday when a family from Kotri, Jamshoro held a press conference for 15-year-old Qurban Shoro.
Qurban was kidnapped from a wedding on May 19 and the family has been holding sporadic protests for his safe return ever since.
“We are too poor to pay for a case in the court,” said Aslam Shoro, Qurban’s elder brother who is a driver by profession. “We want to send a message through the media to whoever has taken my brother to release him. We mean no harm to anyone.” Qurban, the youngest among six brothers, worked at a cotton factory.
After 25-year-old Asif Bhutto went missing, Qurban’s disappearance was the second case to surface within a week from Jamshoro. His family believes that the intelligence agencies are involved in his kidnapping. According to police constable Gul Bhatti, who was injured with a gunshot to his thigh while trying to stop the kidnappers, there were four kidnappers who were dressed in plain clothes. They arrived around 3:30 pm in a white Toyota Corolla which did not have a number plate.
“We approached MPA Sikander Shoro for help and he spoke to the SSP who said that the boy is not in the district anymore,” said Muhammad Khan Shoro, the representative of the elders of the village.
The MPA could not be contacted for his version but Jamshoro SSP, Waqar Mallan, told The Express Tribune that the MPA has offered the police’s assistance to the family. Mallan, however, complained that the family is not willing to register an FIR. “Our duty is to file a case and to investigate which can only be done if there is a complainant.”
Aslam insisted that the family is hoping that the kidnappers will listen to their mercy plea as they don’t want to involve the police and court. “Our last resort would be to file a petition in the Sindh High Court.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2012.