The residents of Larkana’s Lahori Mohalla knew something was not right. They had noticed suspicious activities around a house in the neighbourhood. Their suspicions proved to be spot on. When media teams raided the house late Sunday night they found six captives inside – four of them were men, one woman and one toddler.
The people recovered were, Yasmeen, the wife of Asghar Ali Mirbahar. The toddler was their two-year-old son, Murtaza. The four men were her brothers, Ghulam Sarwar Mirbahar, Mashooq Ali Mirbahar and Hubdar Ali Mirbahar and Imdad Chandio.
The captives alleged that they had been arrested by the police eight days ago, on July 1. Since then, they were kept in this house without a case being registered against them.
However, the police say that the people were caught on Sunday. The case was registered late Sunday night, after the raid, when the captives were shifted to Civil Lines police station. The four men were booked for their alleged involvement in kidnapping the boy on June 25. The Larkana SSP has ordered an inquiry into the matter.
On the other hand, the Larkana ASP Nadeem Qureshi said that the media’s version of the events was ‘baseless and fabricated’. He said that the police raided Mohammad Nawaz Mirbahar’s house and arrested his three sons for investigation. According to ASP Qureshi, Yasmeen was not arrested but she accompanied her brothers forcefully.
On Sunday night, the detainees were taken to Lahori Muhalla for an identification parade. The police left all of them in the house of a policeman and went to call on the relatives of Sajid, the boy who was kidnapped. Qureshi said that the media had given the story a wrong twist. However, the SSP has ordered an inquiry into the matter. “I am carrying out an investigation and will submit the report to the SSP within three days.”
Twist in the tale
The Express Tribune found out that a boy, Sajjid Kalhoro, who was also a resident of Lahori Muhalla, was kidnapped on June 25 and an alleged criminal, Ghulam Mustafa Mirbahar, was nominated in the FIR. Since Ghulam Mustafa was on the run, the police caught his relatives to lure him into turning himself in. On July 6, Ameer Zadi, the wife of Mohammad Nawaz Mirbahar, had filed a petition in district and sessions court Larkana against the police.
It said that her house had been raided on July 1 and the police took away her three sons, Ghulam Sarwar, Mashooq Ali and Hubdar Ali, her daughter Yasmeen and her grandson, Murtaza.
According to Chandio, the court ordered the commissioner Mukhtiar Ali Lanjar to raid the police station twice. No one had been found in the first raid since the people were kept in the house.
However, said Chandio, when after the brothers were found on Sunday, they were taken to Civil Lines police station but Yasmeen was missing. Another petition had been filed in and the commissioner raided Civil Lines police station again, Yasmeen wasn’t there because she was being held separately. But she had been release later and has reached home.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 10th, 2012.
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