Murderer escapes right under cops’ noses

Alleged murderer escaped his police detail from outside the Anti-terrorism court after his bail was rejected.

FAISALABAD: An alleged murderer escaped from outside the Anti-terrorism court in Faisalabad after his bail was rejected by the court. The investigation officer in charge of taking the man to prison has accused his colleagues in the Faisalabad police of helping the man escape.

A murder accessory in a famous case in Thana Sahianwala involving the murder of six men by seven terrorists managed to escape from outside the courtroom on Monday. On Monday, Sahianwala Thaana area Chak 20JB resident Ghulam Abbas filed a writ in the court of the Lahore High Court (LHC) chief justice Khwaja Sharif stating that in 2009 his relatives Khawar, Faiz, Sajjad, Bilal, Aftab Ahmed and Bashir Ahmed were travelling in their car when accused Khursheed, Abdul Ghafoor, Akhtar, Aqeel, Zafar, Ghulam Abbas and Ashraf opened fire on them. “These men were just thugs. They were employed by Sohail Ahmed to kill my family,” he said, adding that the murderers had been fighting over disputed land in their village. “There had been several brawls between Ahmed and my family but we were negotiating and were planning to sit down and settle the matter peacefully,” Abbas said. Abbas initially filed a murder case No514, 302/7ATA against the accused with the Sahianwala police in the district. A few weeks ago, Sohail Ahmed managed to get bail from the anti-terrorism court but the plaintiff immediately filed a writ demanding that his bail be rejected. “I am not willing to see the murderer of half my family walk around freely, so I filed for his bail to be rejected,” Abbas said.

Ahmed was called for a hearing of his bail application on November 1, 2010 when the court rejected his bail. Sahianwala investigation in charge Mohammad Ishaq said that he had brought Ahmed to the court. “When his bail was rejected I was the one who took him out of the court room. After that there was gunfire and someone hit me,” Ishaq said, adding that he was taking Ahmed to the police van when they were ambushed outside the courtroom and he managed to escape the premises.

Ishaq accused police officials in the Faisalabad police of helping the accused escape. “Someone held me down and beat me so I didn’t even know what had happened,” he said, adding that when he managed to recover Ahmed had escaped.

Police officials are now on the alert and are searching for Ahmed’s whereabouts. Ishaq has filed a report about the incident but said that he did not expect any results. “If the Faisalabad police is charged with catching him we won’t find him because they are the ones who helped him escape. The Sahianwala station should be placed in charge of the case,” he said.

Ghulam Abbas said that the Faisalabad police were not interested in catching the escaped accused murderer. “Ahmed was responsible for the death of six men and he is now on the loose due to police negligence. This is shameful,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2010.