I have no words to tell my sister that the police have buried the case file of the death of her only son with his dead body and forgotten this tragic incident forever,” said Abdul Qayyum, uncle of 20-year-old Riaz Baloch, who was among the five victims, whose bodies were recovered from a minibus in Gulshan-e-Iqbal last week
A Baloch youth and two Pakhtun brothers were kidnapped from Liaquatabad, while the driver and the conductor of the minibus (JE-9027) were abducted near Fazal Mill bus stop. All the five abductees were gunned down after brutal torture before the sun of July 6 dawned.
It has been a week since the recovery of the five unfortunate youngsters but their loved ones still wait for an answer as the local police are not interested in investigating the case and arresting the culprits behind their killings.
“The Almighty had granted my sister with a son after a long time but she is unfortunate that she would not see him again,” said Qayyum, with tears flowing from his eyes.
Riaz worked as a furniture salesman at a shop in Liaquatabad. He left his house evening July 5 to allow his father, Ghulam Rasool, a guard at a bungalow, to have dinner. His father waited for him the whole night but Riaz did not arrive.
“We are masons by profession and reside in a katchi abadi in Faqir Dad Goth, Liaquatabad. No one in our entire family has any political affiliations, so why was my nephew kidnapped and killed in a feud between two political parties,” asked the victim’s uncle.
“The night of my nephew’s disappearance, I visited every hospital in the city fearing that he might have fallen prey in an accident. On not finding him, we thanked the Almighty, hoping that he was still alive. Then we went to the Liaquatabad police station and lodged an FIR against his disappearance.
“We then received a phone call from one of my cousins, who told me that the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police have found five dead bodies in a minibus. We hurried to the Edhi Home and found our beloved nephew with his throat slit.
“When we approached the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police for collecting Riaz’s dead body the police adopted delaying tactics. They were not interested in giving me the permission letter.
“After a week, I approached the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police again to find out if any developments had taken place, but they told me that they were busy in maintaining the law and order situation and did not investigate the case again,” narrated Qayyum.
Two brothers, Ahmed Jan and Ghulam Jan, were also among the five killed after kidnapping from Liaquatabad No 12. The person who collected bodies, Awal Jan – a relative of the brothers – has gone missing.
The brothers were transporters and were coming from Hyderabad when they had to stop due to a flat tyre. They were kidnapped and later killed.
Haji Yousuf Khan told Pakistan Today that the duo had called him telling about the tyre and that it would take some more time for them reaching their destination. When Khan called them afterwards, their cell phones were switched off.
When Gulshan-e-Iqbal supervisory police officer Rizwan Wasti was approached to know about any developments in the case, he said he had no idea about the case and asked to contact the station house officer (SHO) for comments.
But when Gulshan-e-Iqbal SHO Kanson Dean was approached for comments, he said there had been developments in the case and the media would be informed when the culprits behind the killings are arrested.
