An investigation into the incident of alleged blasphemy has taken a U-turn after the mysterious disappearance of the complainant Khursheed Alam and chief prayer leader of the local mosque, Qari Ghulam Qadir while the accused boy and his family have also gone into hiding, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Ryan, 15, and his mother Robina Bryan, who served in Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) as a superintendent, left their house on Tuesday night after the teenager was charged with sending a blasphemous text message from his cell phone. Interestingly, both Alam and Qadir have left SSGCL Officers Colony, located at Main University Road, Gulshan-e-Iqbal.
Pakistan Today tried to contact both the complainants on Friday, but neither of them could be traced. The scribe visited SSGCL Officers Colony but was stopped by the security guards. Barkat Ali, the head of SSGCL security, said that Qadir had fallen ill and left the colony early in the morning with his son Saad Qadir and neither had returned as yet.
When the security head was asked about Alam, he said that he left for Shikarpur for an official tour. Upon further questioning, the security head revealed that Alam served as Chief Manager Budget in SSGCL and had left for Shikarpur for some new projects of the company.
The security head did not hesitate to state orders from SSGCL administration, whereby entry of media persons into the colony was prohibited. Despite repeated calls on his phone, Alam remained unreachable for comment.
Earlier, Alam in his statement to police claimed that he had received a blasphemous text from the mobile number of Ryan on the evening of Oct 9. He told police that Ryan also sent the same text message on his friend Farooqi’s number. He said that he approached the prayer leader of the colony’s mosque, and along with Qari Muhammad Riaz and his son Saad Qadir, visited Robina’s house on the same night. He claimed in his statement that Ryan admitted that he had forwarded this message to some Muslim friends without actually reading it. According to Alam, Ryan told him that he had received the message from his friend Samuel, but when he was asked to show Samuel’s message on his cell, he replied that he had deleted that SMS. “We came out of Robina’s house and decided to inform the high-ups next day and returned back to our houses,” reads Alam’s statement, adding that the visitors narrated the story to Assistant General Manager Transmission Mansoor Ahmed and Human Resource Coordinator Mian Naeem, who advised them to be patient and wait for the company decision after consultation.
A case (FIR No 432/2012) under Section 295-C (use of derogatory remarks, etc, in respect of the Holy Prophet) of the Pakistan Penal Code, Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act and Section 25 of the Telegraph Act was later registered at the Mobina Town police station.
In this FIR, it was mentioned that the investigation of this case would be carried out by the Station Investigation Officer (SIO), however no one bearing that designation is posted in Mobina Town police station. Sub-Inspector Muhammad Bux, who was investigating the case, had no answer when queried regarding the whereabouts of Alam, “I had no idea that he has left for Shikarpur for an official tour,” he said, adding that he also had no knowledge about Molvi Sarwar. “I was asked for investigating the matter but that will start when an SIO is deputed,” he added.
Senior police officials in Karachi have varying opinions regarding the case.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Shahid Hayat asserted that the boy had confessed that he forwarded the message.
Superintendent Police (SP) Gulshan Iqbal, Asim Qaimkhani, however, was of the view that the boy was just a teenager who forwarded the message without reading it. More interesting views came from officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity; one claimed that it was suspected the incident was the culmination of a quarrel between SSGC administration and Rubina, and that some officials in the administration wanted the family to leave the colony.
