Road blocked to protest youth’s killing

Dozens of people staged a protest demonstration in Faisalabad against the murder of a young man.

FAISALABAD:

Dozens of people staged a protest demonstration on Thursday in Faisalabad against the murder of a young man. The demonstrators gathered at Jhang-Faisalabad Road and blocked it for traffic for hours. They placed Shakeel Anwar’s body on the road and brought the traffic to a standstill.

Naseer Akram, one of the protesters, told reporters that the victim had been a labourer, who had gone to collect his wages, but did not return. “Anwar went to receive his payment from a house owner in Officers Colony on Wednesday where he had worked for two days. He never returned,” Akram said.

He said Anwar’s family found his body at the Allied Hospital mortuary.

“When they asked the hospital staff about who had brought the body, they were given no information,” Akram said. He said Anwar’s body bore signs of torture.

“We suspect that the house owner tortured him instead of paying him his money. When he died, the body was sent to the hospital,” Akram said.

The demonstrators chanted slogans against the killing of the youth and demanded immediate arrest of the house owner. A team of the Jhang Bazaar police negotiated with the protesters. The protesters dispersed when they were assured that action would be taken against the suspect.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2014.