Going downstream: Two bodies from Punjab found in Ghotki feeder

Third unidentified body still missing.

SUKKUR: The bodies of two young men were found floating in the Ghotki feeder by the police on Sunday night.

According to sources, the men had been tortured as their bodies had marks on them. They also believe that three bodies were washed into Sindh via the floodwater from Punjab.

The police learnt about the bodies when residents of Chak Shahbazpur spotted them in the feeder and reported it to the authorities. The residents managed to drag one body out of the feeder before the police arrived.

Sources claim that the incharge of the Chak Shahbazpur police checkpost reached two hours later and asked the villagers to throw the body back in the water. They did as asked by the policeman.

Two of the three bodies were later found stuck between the gates of the Raunti Bridge. The irrigation staff helped the incharge of the Raunti police checkpost to get rid of the bodies by raising the gates of the bridge so the bodies could float downstream. The police started to look for the bodies after the villagers informed the media and it started running as breaking news on several television channels.

One body was found near the Detho Bhayo village located within the limits of the Andal Sundrani police station. The second body was found near the Bago Deho village within the limits of the Bello Mirpir police station. One of the bodies was taken to Civil Hospital, Mirpur Mathelo while the other was taken to the taluka hospital in Ghotki for the postmortem. Doctors at both the hospitals claimed that the bodies had torture marks on them.

The third unidentified body is still missing. The police had not found it till the filing of this report. Sources suspect that the bodies might have been brought into the province from Punjab due to the strong current of the floodwater.

The Ghotki feeder is an offshoot of the Guddu Barrage and is important as water released from Punjab enters Sindh through the barrage.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2014.