Castrated and killed for not ‘barking’

"We were all made to stand in line and were told to tie shoes around our ears and bark like dogs,” says Afzal.

MULTAN: All ten policemen wanted in a case involving the murder of a man in custody fled from the Mumtazabad police station soon after the registration of FIR’s against them.

On Sunday night, 30-year-old Mohammad Akram Thaheem was one of the eleven gamblers caught by police during a raid. Thaheem died in police custody and police officials alleged that he died of a cardiac arrest, whereas medical reports suggest he was castrated.

“This is a blatant lie, we were all made to stand in line and were told to tie shoes around our ears and bark like dogs,” said Afzal, one of the other gamblers. “Mohammad refused and they tortured him. One of the men took a knife to his groin and we were all turned out of the room,” Afzal said. The remaining gamblers said that they were waiting in police custody but could hear Mohammad’s screams. “An hour later they told us he had died of a cardiac arrest and his body was shifted to the morgue,” said Mazhar, adding that they knew that Mohammad had actually been castrated.

According to Akram’s cousin Qadir Bukhsh, he had been at his nephew Ramzan’s dera with Akram, Aslam, Mazhar and others. The men were reportedly playing a game of cards when Inspector Mukhtar, Sub inspector Rana Bashir, Muhammad Akram, assistant sub inspector (ASI) Rana Ubaidullah, Asim, constable Ghulam Mustafa, Zahid Mushtaq and Rana Sardar reached the scene in a government vehicle. Eye witnesses said that station house officer (SHO) Gulzar also reached the scene in a white vehicle.

The gamblers said that after the arrest they were severely beaten and while in police custody, some of them were tortured.

They identified SHO Gulzar, SI Rana Bashir, ASI Mohammad Asim, ASI Abdul Sattar, Ubaid and Rana Sarkar. Afzal said that Rana Sarkar was a peon at the police station and had personally tortured Muhammad. “We were all bruised and beaten but after he refused to bow down to their demands Muhammad Akram was tortured worse than all of us,” he said.

Following the incident locals stormed into the police station and threw stones and broke into the police gates. Seven police officials were beaten during the proceedings and police officials have filed cases against nearly 270 unknown persons under the Anti-terrorism Act sections 7, 353, 397, 440, 148, 149 and 186.

Akram’s relative Qadir Bukhsh said that he reached the police station along with Ramzan and Riaz but they were not allowed to enter. “We knew something was wrong when they told us that Akram was in the hospital,” Buksh said, adding that the police did not mention that his body had been sent to the hospital morgue. Later we returned to the police station and there was a strike inside the police station.

An FIR (953/10) under sections 302, 147 and 148 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) has been registered against police officers SHO Gulzar Ahmed Tulla, inspector Mukhtar Ahmed, sub inspectors Rana Bashir Ahmed and Muhammad Akram, ASIs Muhammad Asim, Abdul Sattar and Ubaidullah and constables Ghulam Mustafa, Zahid and Mushtaq on the complaint of Akram’s uncle Ghulam Qadir on Monday night after a five-member medical board said that the man had actually been tortured to death and did not die of a cardiac arrest.

Operations SSP Salman Sulta said that even though an FIR has been lodged against the accused police officials, the inquiry committee has sealed its findings. The ten police officials implicated in the FIR fled the police precincts before the cases were lodged against them.

On hearing of the police men’s escape locals protested in large numbers near Shahabad chows. The protesters burnt tires and shouted slogans against the police. District police officer Syed Dilawar Abbas said that the police men would be caught at all costs and arrested as soon as possible.

A judicial inquiry has also been initiated into the incident under the guidance of civil judge Shakil Seprah on orders of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2010.