A Christian family is searching for justice in the murder case of 24-year-old Imran Masih but nobody is ready to help them as police are taking orders from the influential killers. After losing the youth who was married a couple of months ago, the family is now being forced to compromise with the killers and the police have made no arrest even after one week of the incident.
Neither any politician nor any human rights activist bothered to visit the aggrieved family so far which showed the double standards, prevailing in the society. Imran Masih, a resident of Eisa Nagar, was a servant at the dera of an influential feudal Maqsood Cheema and his duties were to clean the premises and to water the buffaloes.
He had three brothers and two sisters and all of them, along with their parents, were living in a small house which was not properly constructed.
Imran Masih got married a couple of months ago and asked Maqsood Cheema to give him salary for his work but he refused and forced Imran to do work as he was doing for many years. After being disappointed, Imran Masih left this “slavery” and contacted one of his relative for job in the city. The feudal felt it insulting and called him back on an attractive salary. Imran went to meet Maqsood but did not return as his dead body was received at his residence in a tractor trolley with a message that Imran had committed suicide at the dera but the torture marks on his body were exposing the brutality committed by feudal and his accomplices.
The Christian families in the village were taken aback and contacted the Gakhar Police Station to lodge a First Information Report (FIR) against Maqsood Cheema but found that station house officer had already registered a suicide report to bury the incident. They, along with the residents of the village, put the dead body in the middle of GT Road and agitated against the brutal killing and myopic approach of the police.
Their sit-in continued for more than two hours and the traffic between Lahore and Rawalpindi remained blocked during this time. Wazirabad deputy superintendent of police (DSP) reached the spot and ensured the mob to lodge an instant FIR. Lal Masih, father of the victim, blamed Maqsood Cheema, Munir Cheema, Rashid Ahmad and Mohsin for the murder of his son. He said that his family and relatives were being pressurised by the feudal and the police to compromise otherwise they would have to face dire consequences in the coming days.
He added that Maqsood Cheema also offered them Rs one lakh to withdraw the case and sent a message that half of this amount would be sufficient for the police to file the case. Investigating Officer Sub Inspector Muhammad Adnan said that he, along with the SHO, visited the locale twice and tried to solve the complications of the case that either it was a suicide or murder.
He added that earlier the family of the deceased itself termed the incident a suicide and took back the body but next the morning, they started agitation at GT Road and got the case registered. He said the arrests would be made after settling the cause of death which would be finalised after receiving the autopsy report.
