Bodies in gunny sacks make worryingly-frequent appearances in many of the larger cities of Pakistan, but the rise in such cases in Islamabad should send alarm bells ringing for law enforcement agencies.
In October alone, at least four bodies in sacks were recovered from different locations in the capital, where the violent crime rate is far lower than other large cities in the country.
Dumping of bodies bundled in gunny sacks is a common phenomenon in Karachi, and the trend has also been rising in Peshawar, where the deceased are often victims of target killings, botched kidnappings, and extortion.
A senior police official, however, says that investigations into two such cases have revealed that the suspects stuff the bodies in sacks to make it harder for the police to identify the victims and the killers.
The body of a man was found in an empty plot in Sector F-11/3 within the Shalimar police limits on October 8. Similarly, the strangulated body of an unidentified woman was found at a makeshift garbage dump in Shahzad Town on October 9.
The body of man, said to be in his 20s, was found in the Ramna police jurisdiction on October 25, and the body of another victim was recovered from an empty plot in Sector I-10. All the victims had been stuffed into gunny sacks after they were murdered.
The police claimed to have solved two cases and have arrested suspects, but progress in the other two has been fleeting.
Shafqat Mehmood, the investigation officer in the Shalimar Police Station case, said that the mutilated body of Mazhar Iqbal was identified after announcements were made in local mosques.
He said that the two suspects, Amanullah and Abdul Rehman, who were arrested on October 22, were childhood friends of the victim. He added that a dispute over a flash memory card led to the murder.
Mehmood said the suspects claimed that the victim had stolen the card from one of their mobile phones. The suspects told the police that the card contained family pictures and some confidential data. “They called the victim, tortured him to death and dumped his body in an empty plot. All for a memory card,” said Mehmood.
“This new trend of bodies in gunny sacks has raised several questions on the performance of police and intelligence agencies,” said Nasreen Azhar, a council member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. “This has disastrous impact on society. It is frightening to even think that such things keep happening.”
Inconclusive investigations, lack of coordination among intelligence agencies and weak laws are some of the causes behind such heinous crimes, Azhar opined.
Islamabad Operations SSP Asmatullah Junejo, meanwhile, said that investigations have revealed that these killings were noticeably different from the ones taking place in other cities, explaining that the evidence suggests the victims were not killed in extortion attempts or kidnappings.
He suggested that sacks were a ‘sleight of hand’ used by the alleged killers to send police on the wrong trail during investigations. “It may be an attempt to ‘mislead’ the police.”
The SSP added that “Genetic ‘fingerprints’ can reduce such crimes. The culprits will not be able to hide for long,” adding that forensic tests can immediately confirm the identity of a culprit.
He said DNA testing for race and ethnicity can also help the police to narrow down the pool of suspects.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 1st, 2014.
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