MANSEHRA: Police have arrested another four suspects in relation to the Kohistan video scandal that resulted in the deaths of four women and two men. Those arrested include brothers and cousins of the deceased women.
Earlier, four other suspects were arrested who confessed to the crime.
In May 2012, a local named Afzal Kohistani had showed media a video in which his brothers were dancing at a programme, while some girls were shown singing along and clapping. After the video got leaked, a Jirga was held by the girls’ tribe which decreed their and the boys killing under ‘Riwaj’ (a tribal custom).
On July 31, 2018, a new case was registered under Palas police station under the Supreme Court orders.
Last month, the four suspects namely Umar Khan, Saber, Mohamad Sarfraz and Saeer were arrested.
Upon interrogation, the suspects had confessed to killing three girls Begum Jan, Sireen Jan and Bazgha by firing, saying they disposed of the bodies in Nala Chorh.
They had said that Amna and Shaheen are still alive and will be presented before the court.
Kohistan District Police Officer Iftikhar Khan had said that raids are underway to arrest eight suspects who produced other girls for fake identification.
Afzal, however, said that the suspects are lying. “They killed all five girls by severe torture and are not identifying graves as it will reveal their brutality,” he added.
Former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had taken a suo motu notice of the case on June 7, 2012, and constituted a fact-finding mission on July 17, 2012, to investigate the case.
The commission went to Kohistan and investigated the matter, producing a report on July 20, 2017, which stated that the girls were alive. The case was closed when the court established the girls were alive.
However, one of the commission members, Dr Farzana Bari expressed her doubts that the girls weren’t the same and some other girls were produced clad in burqa and veil.
When the case was appealed to be reopened, the apex court ordered NADRA to match fingerprints and CNICs. The tests came back negative.