Three ‘missing’ persons’ bodies found in Haripur

According to victims’ families, their cases were being heard by Peshawar High Court.

HARIPUR: The bodies of three alleged ‘missing’ persons, whose cases were being heard by the Peshawar High Court (PHC), were found in different parts of Haripur on Wednesday.

All the three victims were tortured to death and were injected with something poisonous, police and hospital sources said.

The Peshawar High Court had been hearing the cases of the three victims, who had been missing for the last two years, their family members told the media.

Deputy Superintendent Police Tariq Khan said that the body of Hasan Dad was dumped in Moonan village and bore torture marks. He said that Hasan’s neck was broken and his body bore injections marks.

The second body, identified as Abdul Khanan a resident of Mohmand Agency, was found from Mirpur village and also bore torture marks. The DSP said that Khanan’s left arm also had injection marks.

He further said that the third body, identified as Riaz, was dumped on the link road of Afghan camp No 12. It, too, bore torture and injection marks.

Khan said that the police have registered criminal cases against the unidentified assailants.

Khan avoided confirming that the victims were ‘missing’, and added that the police are investigating the incident from all angles.

When contacted, a medical officer at the Women and Children Hospital confirmed on the condition of anonymity that the victims were killed on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, Raheem Dad, the father of victim Hasan, told reporters that his son had been missing for the last two years and his case was being heard by a bench of the PHC headed by Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan.

He said that whereas they knocked the court’s door for justice, in return they were taking the body of their son.

Abdul Ghani, the elder brother of victim Abdul Khanan, said that his brother was a prayer leader in the village mosque and had studied at the Lal Masjid.

He said that Khanan has also participated in the Afghan war but went missing from the village two years back. He was the only breadwinner of his family of seven children, Ghani added.

Fiaz and Jehangir, victim Riaz’s brothers, said that their brother had been missing for over one year, claiming that he had been picked up by law enforcement agencies.

Riaz worked at a cement block manufacturing unit in the area, they added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2012.