No FIR lodged over Pindi police’s killing of two brothers accused of sheltering terrorists. PHOTO: FILE
“No, I won’t go out. They will kill me, like they killed my papa and chachu (uncle).” Barely old enough to understand the concept of death, the five-year-old girl, Abeera, has already lost all faith in the uniforms that are supposed to protect citizens and instill sense of confidence among the law-abiding people.
Last Friday, this little girl saw her father, Engineer Malik Jamshed, and uncle, Malik Sajjad, bleed to death after being shot multiple times in an alleged police encounter.
An Elite Force team raided their house in Satellite Town and killed the two brothers, claiming that they had links with terrorists and had provided them with shelter.
The tragic death of her father has left indelible scars on her mind with the nightmares becoming a regular occurrence.
“She is so terrified that she often wake up and starts crying “thieves are coming”, or, “they are coming to kill us all,” Jamshed’s widow Mehrum Jan told The Express Tribune.
Abeera has been distraught since that day and was taken to the hospital thrice, but instead of improving, her health continues to worsen.
“Look at her. Her condition is deteriorating with each passing day,” she said.
Jan misses her husband. She misses calling him a miser. “He would save, save, save because he wanted to buy a house. But even though he was careful with spending money, he made sure to satisfy the family’s needs,” Jan said.
But when she came closer to Friday, her mood changed. “My world came crashing down. They (the police) made me a widow and my children fatherless. I pray that their children grow up without their fathers,” she cursed, while wiping her tears with the chador covering her face.
Anila Bibi was looking forward to her first anniversary with Sajjad. They were planning a delayed honeymoon in Dubai. “He knew I like chocolate, so he used to get me some every day,” she recalled.
“But this...This is what hell feels like,” she cried.
“Their faces are still fresh in my mind. Every time I recall the scene of their death, my heart sinks,” said Malik Rehmat Khan, father of the deceased.
“The police said my boys were sheltering terrorists, then where have the terrorists gone? Did they pass through a wall? Were they invisible?” asked Khan while pointing towards a high wall at the end of street.
“We are a peaceful family. You will not hear of even one case or a simple complaint against me in my entire life. How they can say we had connections with terrorists?” Khan lamented
Maqsood Ali, a friend of Sajjad, rejected the police claim that his friend had any inclination or sympathy for fundamentalist causes. “We grew up together. We studied together at the same educational institute, and he has always been liberal-minded,” Ali said.
When contacted, SP Chaudhry Muhammad Hanif said a team has begun investigating the incident and will take time to complete it.
Ironically, the police have not visited the area to collect evidence, no FIR was ever filed, and the family has been denied access to the police file.
According to media reports, 350 alleged gangsters were killed in 375 police counters in 2012 in Punjab alone, but none of the encounters was investigated.
If they were innocent, will Abeera get an apology, or will her father and uncle be reduced to statistics?
(Edited by Vaqas Asghar)
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2013.
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