LAHORE – Senior Supreme Court Judge Javed Iqbal’s father and mother were murdered on Tuesday in mysterious circumstances at their Cavalry Grounds home, by hitherto unidentified burglars, possibly for resisting them, the city police chief Aslam Tareen told Pakistan Today. The judge’s elderly parents were identified as retired police DIG-turned-homeopath Abdul Hameed and his wife Amna, residents of House No 164, Street No 7, Cavalry Grounds, Lahore, where Mr Hameed ran a small clinic.
Sources privy to the unfolding investigation into the murders told Pakistan Today that the elderly couple had two young women as tenants in the upper portion of their house, who returned home from work last evening between 6 and 7pm. They were surprised to find the lower portion’s lights out and called out to the guards to come and enquire. The guards found the door open and upon entering, found the elderly couple’s bodies lying on the living room floor. They informed the police, who cordoned off the area and began investigating. The bodies were taken for autopsy after 1:30am today (Wednesday). Justice Javed, who is heading a Supreme Court bench in the missing persons case, arrived in Lahore early on Wednesday. Police sources claimed that the murderers had suffocated both victims to death by smothering them with pillows. The forensic lab experts also reached the crime scene. The police chief claimed that the murders were the result of an attempted burglary gone wrong, explaining that two unidentified armed robbers barged into the house as the couple were about to leave home in their car at around 10:20 pm. He told the media that the victims resisted when the robbers demanded valuables from them. The robbers shot and killed both when they resisted.
SP Cantt Jawad Qamar said that it was too early to ascertain the motive behind the killing of the elderly couple. A neighbour named Akhtar said there was police security at the house but there had been none for the last few days. He claimed he heard gunshots in the area around the time the murders happened.. Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, newly appointed Punjab Governor Latif Khosa, Provincial Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah, Lahore Commissioner Khusro Pervaiz, and District Coordination Officer Ahad Cheema also reached the scene. No arrest was made till 1:30 am but the police questioned the two young ladies who lived above the couple as well as two community security guards on duty on the street.
