SIALKOT: A labourer and his wife were tortured publicly and dragged in streets by some masked men in Mitraanwali village in Daska tehsil the other day.

Reports said the unidentified men, armed with weapons, barged into the house of Muhammad Sarwar and started beating him and his wife, Sumera Bibi, with hockey sticks.

The faces of the couple were smeared with black polish and they were forced to parade in the village streets. No one dared to save the victim couple from the clutches of the armed men.

Later, the armed men kept the couple tied with an electricity pole for some hours. Although some people captured the nasty incident in their cameras, no-one picked up the courage to get them released.

Some villagers said the police reached there a few hours after the shameful incident and took the couple with them.

Police said Sarwar’s brother-in-law Nawazish had kidnapped Shahzad Ahmad’s young daughter Aysha from the village a few days back. They said the family of the kidnapped girl had taken a revenge.

Daska-based MNA Sahibzada Syed Iftikharul Hasan Shah told reporters a political row was behind the nasty incident.

He said councillor Faiz Cheema had punished the couple for not giving him vote in the local body elections on Dec 5.

Talking to reporters, councillor Faiz Cheema termed baseless all the allegations levelled against him by his political opponents.

District Police Officer Rai Ejaz Ahmad told Dawn by phone that the Bambaanwala police had registered a case against seven accused -- Goggi Cheema, Aslam Cheema, Awais Riasat, Shabbir alias Kalu, Hero Rasheed, Basharat and Ajju -- under sections 147, 149, 342, 354, 355 and 506 of the PPC on the report of victim Sarwar.

He said the victim couple was under the police custody at a safe place.

The DPO said the main cause behind the inhuman incident was the kidnapping of a girl.

The DPO said the police arrested five of the seven nominated accused and added the section 7 ATA in the FIR already registered against them.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2015

Opinion

Editorial

PTI in disarray
Updated 30 Nov, 2024

PTI in disarray

PTI’s protest plans came abruptly undone because key decisions were swayed by personal ambitions rather than political wisdom and restraint.
Tired tactics
30 Nov, 2024

Tired tactics

Matiullah's arrest appears to be a case of the state’s overzealous and misplaced application of the law.
Smog struggle
30 Nov, 2024

Smog struggle

AS smog continues to shroud parts of Pakistan, an Ipsos survey highlights the scope of this environmental hazard....
Solidarity with Palestine
Updated 29 Nov, 2024

Solidarity with Palestine

The wretched of the earth see in the Palestinian struggle against Israel a mirror of themselves.
Little relief for public
29 Nov, 2024

Little relief for public

INFLATION, the rate of increase in the prices of goods and services over a given period of time, has receded...
Right to education
29 Nov, 2024

Right to education

IT is troubling to learn that over 16,500 students of the University of Karachi (KU) have defaulted on fee payments...