UMERKOT: A case under relevant sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) was registered at the Umerkot police station against a mob of around 35 people on Tuesday over burning of blasphemy suspect Dr Shah Nawaz Kunbhar’s body.

The FIR was lodged by Dr Kunbhar’s brother-in-law Mohammad Ibrahim Kunbhar, who has named 20 of the around 35 suspects.

Separately, a petition has been filed in the Sindh High Court at Karachi by Barrister Farrukh Shareef to seek a judicial inquiry into the alleged extrajudicial killing of Dr Kunbhar and the circumstances leading to the violent mob attacks, breach of law and violation of fundamental rights in the entire episode.

In his FIR, Ibrahim Kunbhar stated that the Umerkot police had arrested Dr Shah Nawaz Kunbhar while he was visiting the Lyari locality of Karachi on Sept 18.

He stated that the doctor’s cousin, Advocate Junaid, was accompanying him when the police took him into custody.

The complainant stated that Dr Shah Nawaz Kunbhar was then handed over to the Mirpurkhas police, who kept him in the lock-up of the Sindhri police station and then shot dead him in an alleged encounter.

Body snatched and torched

The complainant further stated that the victim’s father, Mohammad Saleh Kunbhar, was transporting the body by an ambulance to the family’s native Janhero village while he [the complainant] and Advocate Junaid were following the ambulance in their cars with intention to attend the funeral.

According to Ibrahim Kunbhar, they saw a crowd of hostile people having blocked a section of the road leading to the village to stop the ambulance.

They were led by Maulvi Ahmed Shahani, who was delivering a speech at that time and as soon as the ambulance arrived, he instigated the crowd to set it on fire.

A group of people holding petrol-filled bottles emerged from the crowd and advanced towards the ambulance.

The group and other people in the crowd were raising slogans. “Sensing danger, we tried to speed away but they chased us along the Umerkot-Kunri road. “On the way, we got a chance to shift the body from the ambulance to a car (Z-7639) and proceeded to our farmlands with intention to bury it there the next day (Sept 19).

However, around 35 people from among the crowd managed to reach us. They snatched the body from us, set it on fire and escaped. We put out the fire and buried the body,“ the complainant stated.

Fear prevents bereaved family from encouraging more protests

The bereaved family and relatives on Tuesday requested the ‘Sindh Youth Action Committee’ of Hyderabad and other civil society organisations not to hold the sit-in and other protests they had planned for the day (Tuesday) at Allah Wala Chowk in Umerkot.

They apprehended that such protests might turn the already volatile situation worse and ultimately expose them [Dr Shah Nawaz Kunbhar’s relatives] to threats from religious extremist elements.

The doctor’s family members and relatives thanked all those who expressed their sympathies and solidarity with them, and said they did not want the incident and ensuing protests to endanger others’ lives.

They welcomed the civil society activists who visited the bereaved family to condole Dr Kunbhar’s death. The visitors urged all those present around to accompany them to Allah Wala Chowk to hold a sit-in but the family convinced them not to go ahead.

Petition filed

Meanwhile, Barrister Farrukh Shareef has filed a petition in the Sindh High Court, Karachi, to seek a judicial inquiry into the alleged extrajudicial killing of Dr Kunbhar. He has urged the court to look into the circumstances leading to the violent incidents, mob attacks and breach of law in Umerkot and serious violation of fundamental rights of the Kunbhar family.

According to Umerkot SHO Atta Leghari, nine suspects had been detained for interrogation following the Sept 18 burning of Dr Kunbhar’s body.

Social media account

Dr Shah Nawaz Kunbhar faced the wrath of people after blasphemous contents appeared on his social media account on Sept 17.

He contended that his account had been hacked but enraged people disbelieved him. Leaders of some religious entities led a noisy demonstration outside the Umerkot Press Club demanding his arrest. The Umerkot SSP held negotiations with the leaders and persuaded the protesters to disperse peacefully by accepting their demand to register an FIR against the doctor.

The SSP then got a blasphemy FIR registered against Dr Kunbhar at the Umerkot police station on the complaint of a local religious figure, Khateeb Sabir Soomro.

A team of the Umerkot police proceeded to Karachi after coming to know that the suspect had gone to that city. They arrested him on Sept 18 and handed him over to the Sindhri police of Mirpurkhas district. Only the next day, the Sindhri police claimed that Dr Shah Nawaz Kunbhar was killed in a police encounter, adding that another suspect who was accompanying him managed to escape from the encounter site.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2024