MIRPURKHAS: The three policemen nominated in the FIR lodged by the family of blasphemy suspect Dr Shah Nawaz Kunbhar were being escorted to Mirpurkhas on Monday evening after their arrest by the Punjab police, according to sources.

They said that SI Hidayatullah Narejo and constables Nadir and Qadir had gone underground after an uproar across Sindh over the killing of Dr Kunbhar in an encounter in Mirpurkhas.

The doctor, a resident of Umerkot district, was arrested in Karachi and handed over to the Mirpurkhas police after violent reaction over some of the social media posts attributed to him. The posts were taken as blasphemous and they triggered a series of protests and demonstrations organised by religious entities in Sindh.

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Only a day after taking custody of Dr Kunbhar, the Mirpurkhas police declared that he was shot dead in an “encounter”. The claim fueled the unrest as the bereaved family and their sympathisers also took to the street for justice. The police team involved in the so-called encounter went underground to escape agitators’ wrath.

On Monday, it was learnt that all the three policemen were tracked down by the Punjab police and taken into custody.

A team of Mirpurkhas police officers proceeded to Punjab to take custody of the policemen and bring them back to Mirpurkhas.

According to a source, the policemen had kept their mobile phones switched off to avoid being located but the Punjab police using modern technology succeeded in tracking them down.

Meanwhile, the Mirpurkhas Anti-Terrorism Court on Monday granted five-day interim bail to Pir Agha Umer Jan Sarhandi, a cleric also nominated in an FIR pertaining to the burning of Dr Kunbhar’s body. He has been accused of inciting a mob to the act of burning the body.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2024