SUKKUR: Sukkur police have been accused of killing three members of a family extra-judicially in a fake encounter and getting them buried through Edhi volunteers three days ago. Another three members of the family are in their custody, a petitioner informed the Sukkur district and sessions court on Monday.

Petitioner Ali Murad Shaikh in his petition stated that his brother, Pervez Shaikh, had contracted a freewill marriage with Parveen Shaikh on Aug 25 without the consent of the woman’s family. He further stated that the woman’s family had lodged a kidnapping case against his brother and threatened to kill the couple on which Pervez filed an application in the Sindh High Court, Sukkur bench, for protection.

The SHC issued notices to the respondents for Sept 14 and the applicants were to appear before the bench on the date of hearing.

The petitioner said that to escape a possible attack by the woman’s relatives, Pervez moved to Shikarpur along with Parveen, his father Bakhushal Shaikh, brother Ali Sher Shaikh and sisters Latifan Shaikh and Ajeeban Shaikh.

However, the petitioner claimed, a police team accompanied by some private persons, barged into their house, took the couple, Bakhushal Shaikh, Ali Sher Shaikh and a relative, Punjal Shaikh, to an unknown location.

The petitioner alleged that Mirpur Mathelo SHO Hakeem Langha demanded a big amount of money for their release.

Murad Shaikh said he and his family came to know through a newspaper report that three “criminals” were killed in an encounter in Sukkur. The report carried the victims’ photographs and the family recognised two of them as Pervez Shaikh and Punjal Shaikh. The third one named in the report as Zamir Shaikh was not known to them, the petitioner said.

He said they also came to know that the police had got the victims buried in Nawan Goth graveyard through Edhi volunteers after declaring them ‘unclaimed bodies’.

The petitioner urged the court to order exhumation of the bodies, a thorough investigation into the “extra-judicial killings” and protection for his other family members, besides handing over the bodies of Pervez and Punjal to their heirs.

Meanwhile, Murad Shaikh told the media on Monday that his father Bakhushal and brother Ali Sher and sister-in-law Parveen were still in police custody. He apprehended they too might be killed if the court and the authorities concerned did not intervene into the matter.

He said Parveen might be handed over to her family who, according to him, were bent upon killing her as ‘kari’ (the term for a woman declared liable to be killed by her close relatives for having an extramarital affair).

He also appealed to human rights organisations to help ensure safety of his family members and look into the role of police in the killing of his brother and relative in a “fake” encounter.

On the other hand, Parveen’s brother, Ali Gul Shaikh, told the media on Monday that Pervez, his father and brothers as well as his associates were “criminals who attacked and kidnapped my sister”.

He said the kidnapping case had already been lodged at the Mirpur Mathelo police station. He said he and his family were anxious about the well-being of Parveen.

When contacted for his comment, Sukkur SSP Tanveer Tunio insisted that Parvez, Zamir and Punjal were criminals and they were shot dead during an encounter with the Sukkur police.

He said that Pervez had earlier served a jail term for committing a crime and was nominated in the kidnapping case of Parveen.

He said details of the cases against the deceased “criminals” were sought from various police stations.

He said he knew nothing about the whereabouts of the other persons allegedly kept in detention by police.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2015

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