SAHIWAL: The body of a 10-year-old boy was found at Chak 113/12-L, tehsil Chichawatni, in what appears to be a revenge killing over a court marriage issue.

The boy, Muhammad Zubair, son of Muhammad Riaz Nabi, had gone missing on Monday and his body was found in the forest by his family and villagers on Tuesday morning.

A few years ago, Riaz Nabi’s family moved to Chichawatni city. His eldest son, Iqbal, contracted a court marriage with Riaz Shaikh’s daughter, Atiqa, on Dec 7, 2024. The couple started living together at Muhammad Riaz’s house. Meanwhile, Shaikh Riaz filed a kidnapping case against Iqbal and during the hearing, the judge discovered that Atiqa was underage. He ordered that Atiqa be returned to her family and asked both the parties to settle the dispute amicably as Atiqa wished to live with her husband and in-laws.

It is alleged that Shaikh, along with Ashiq, Altaf, Shoukat and two unidentified individuals, kidnapped Iqbal’s youngest brother, Zubair, when he went to a village shop to buy snacks. When Zubair did not return home till evening, his parents and family began searching for him but in vain. Next morning, they found his body in the forest with a rope around his neck.

The Chichawatni Saddar registered a case against six suspects on the complaint of the boy’s father and arrested four individuals, including Atiqa’s mother, for investigation. Riaz Shaikh and Shoukat managed to flee.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2025