MULTAN, Dec 11: A woman has been trying to find her husband allegedly missing for 11 months, seeking police and local politicians’ support without a success. Now she fears that the captors might have killed her husband.

Ameer Mai says she was 19 when she had married Fida Hussain from Thaheemwala, Mauza Ghalwan II in Alipur, 18 years ago. Fida owned a donkey-cart for livelihood besides two acres that was enough for the couple and their five children.

Their life was a happy going till eight years ago when Muhammad Zaffar Lashari, an attendant with former member of the Provincial Assembly Rasool Bukhsh Jatoi, eyed on Fida’s land. Zaffar pestered Fida to give him the land on lease but Fida refused. Later, Zaffar occupied the land forcibly, saying he would pay him a fixed amount yearly.

Whenever, Fida asked Zaffar to vacate the land, he promised that he would give it up next year but he neither vacated the land nor paid the lease of the land.

Three years ago, Zaffar started pestering Fida for the transfer of the ownership of the land to him.

On January 3, 2006, Zaffar along with his three accomplices — Munawwar Jhandair, Mujahid Makwal and Zahid Makwal - came to Fida’s house and repeated his demand. When Fida refused to budge, Zaffar became furious and allegedly kidnapped him at gunpoint.

Ameer Mai and her son, Muhammad Yousaf, approached the Alipur City Police Station for registration of a case, but police refused to take any action. Riaz Bukhari, the station house officer, instead asked Ameer Mai to contact Mr Rasool Jatoi for the release of her husband.

When she contacted Mr Rasool Jatoi, he assured her that Fida would be released soon but they did not release him.

On her persistent demands, police arrested Zaffar but on the reported interference of Afzaal Shah, also a local landlord, police released Zaffar without lodging any first information report. Mr Afzaal Shah also assured Ameer Mai that Fida would be released soon. The woman submitted a petition in the court of the area magistrate on January 20, 2006, where her plea was turned down when her lawyer told the court that the plaintiff did not want to plead the petition. The lawyer on the other hand told Mai since she was late, the court had rejected her petition.

Yousaf submitted another petition in the court of Mustafa Nadeem, the Alipur additional district and sessions court judge, on July 31, 2006, since Ameer Mai was not authorised to submit a second petition.

On the order of the court, police lodged an FIR on Aug 18 but did not arrest the accused. Police’s lenient attitude helped two accused — Munawwar and Zaffar — get bail on Aug 29, 2006. while the other two - Zahid and Mujahid — were declared proclaimed offenders. The additional sessions judge cancelled the bail of Munawwar and Zaffar on Sept 9.

After being disappointed from police, Ameer Mai approached local influential people for the release of her husband. When she went to Mr Rasool Jatoi, he said if she withdrew the name of Zaffar from the FIR, he would help arrest the other accused. When she visited Jatoi’s rival Amir Gopang, who is the son of Member of the National Assembly Ashiq Gopang, he asked her to withdraw the case against Munawwar.

She said that Investigation Officer Mutiullah had pressured for compromise with the accused for a Rs100,000 compensation. On her refusal, she said, the investigation officer told her that she would never get justice as he would report against her at all forums.

She said that she wrote to the president, the prime minister, the chief justice, the Punjab chief minister, the federal interior minister, the interior federal secretary, the Lahore High Court chief justice, the Punjab inspector general of police, the district and sessions court judge in Muzaffargarh, the DG Khan deputy inspector general of police, the Muzaffargarh district police officer and the Alipur deputy superintendent of police, but all in vain.

Investigation Officer Mutiullah told Dawn that police were investigating the matter and he was using all his abilities to find Fida. He said police would find him soon. He however denied the allegation that he had pestered Mai for the withdrawal of the case.

Member of the Provincial Assembly Yasir Jatoi, the brother of Rasool Jatoi, said Zaffar was “innocent” while the real accused was Munawwar who was released by police at the behest of MNA Ashiq Khan Gopang.

He said Ashiq Gopang and his son, Amir Gopang, were supporting the “real” accused.

Mr Amir Gopang said that Munawar was “innocent”.

Afzaal Shah said that he did not know about Zaffar and that he had not asked police to release him.

Rasool Jatoi said that he did not know that Zaffar had kidnapped Fida. In fact, nobody kidnapped him as a few villagers had told him that they had seen Fida at various places, Rasool Jatoi said.

While the politicians are out to protect their supporters and police officials are pleasing their ‘mentors’, dejected but hopeful Ameer Mai is ready for ceaseless struggle following in the foot step of Mukhtar Mai, a rape victim, who lives just few kilometers from her house. — Shakeel Ahmad