Lahore church attacks: Second lynching victim identified

Relatives of the victim identified him as Babar Nauman, a hosiery worker from Sargodha

LAHORE: A day after the first lynching victim was identified, relatives of the second victim have identified him as a hosiery worker from Sargodha. 

Two people were lynched by the mob after two suicide bombers attacked as many churches in Lahore on Sunday, killing at least 14 people.

While the first of the lynching victims was identified by his brother on Monday, the family of the other victim came forward on Tuesday and identified him as Babar Nauman, a resident of Sargodha.

Read: My brother was not a militant, says brother of lynched victim

SHO Nishter Colony Police Station Tanveer Ahmad told The Express Tribune that Nauman’s family came to the police station and asked for possession of his body.

The family informed the police that Nauman was a hosiery dealer and went to Lahore for business purpose six days ago, adding that they recognised him after seeing pictures of the protests on social media.

SHO Ahmad said that the family claimed that Nauman was innocent and had been killed by the mob without any evidence of him being a terrorist.

His body will be handed over to the relatives after the results of a DNA profiling test arrives, the police maintained.

Meanwhile, the body of the other lynching victim, Hafiz Muhammad Naeem, was handed over to his family for burial on Tuesday.

FIRs lodged

Moreover, six FIRs have so far been lodged at the Nishter Colony police station in Lahore in connection with the bombings at two churches in Youhanabad and subsequent events. According to details, two FIRs were lodged on complaints of Catholic church and Christ church’s administration.

Two other FIRs were lodged on the complaint of SI Tanveer Ahmad of Nishter colony police station against several protesters for ransacking Metro bus stations at Youhanabad and Kahna, blocking the Ferozepur road and torturing police officials on Monday.

Another FIR was lodged against unnamed protesters for lynching on the application of the brother of Naeem.

A sixth FIR was lodged against a woman named Maryam Safdar, a school teacher, who ran over two of the protestors at Ferozepur road on Monday. The victims of the accident had succumbed to their injuries at a hospital late on Monday night.

SSP Investigation Rana Ayyaz Saleem said that police was trying to identify the protestors involved in ransacking the metro bus stations at Youhanabad and Kahna stop and the ones involved in lynching and burning of two persons after the blasts. On the other hand, Lahore police have also collected video footage of the incidents from the media and have sent high resolution pictures to NADRA for identifying the culprits involved.

A senior police official told The Express Tribune that at least 20 people, identified with the help of TV footage, had been detained by the police on Tuesday and were being questioned, while the duty officer at the Nishter colony police station revealed that no one was officially arrested by the police so far.

PRO to DIG Operations Dr haider Ashraf revealed that police was preparing the list of the protesters with help from NADRA but had not yet arrested any one.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Youhanabad resident has started leaving their home on Tuesday night to avoid arrests by the police.