Balochistan Minister for Construction and Communications Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran Wednesday was arrested in his alleged connection with the gruesome murder of three people, the police said – as the bullet-riddled bodies were found in a well in the Barkhan district.
“Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran is accused of murdering three people and that is why he has been taken into custody,” police said, as the protesters continued their sit-in for the second consecutive day in Quetta demanding justice. The man, Muhammad Marri, whose three family members were murdered has accused Khetran of keeping his five other family members in a “private jail”. When the pressure grew on the police, they registered a case against unknown persons under Sections 34 (doing any act with intention of causing harm to any person), 202 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), and 302 (qatl-i-amd) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Marri tribesmen continued their sit-in outside the Red Zone in Balochistan’s Quetta for the second consecutive day on Wednesday after bullet-riddled and charred bodies of a woman and her two sons were found in a well near Barkhan. The situation stemmed from the discovery of the bodies late on Monday night – said to be the wife and two sons of one Khan Muhammad Marri. “These are the bodies of my wife and two sons who were kept in a private jail in Haji Kot for the last four years,” he said, identifying them as his 40-year-old wife Granaz, and sons Muhammad Anwar (22) and Abdul Qadir (15).
Marri, who was once employed as a security guard with a provincial minister, alleged that his wife and sons were being held in the private jail of Balochistan Minister for Communication and Works Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran, adding that five more of his children, including his 13-year-old daughter, were still languishing there. The case has sparked an outcry on social media and even in the Balochistan Assembly. Subsequently, the police raided Khetran’s house. However, no arrest was reported.
Meanwhile, members of the Marri tribes have been staging a sit-in in Quetta, along with the bodies, for the past 12 hours. They told Dawn.com that the demonstration will continue until a first information report (FIR) was registered against Khetran. The demonstrators also announced that they would not call off their demonstration or bury the bodies until Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif paid them a visit. Separately, while talking to Dawn.com, Marri said that there was a threat to him and his children. “My family is receiving death threats.”
He demanded that protection be provided to him so that he could visit his deceased family members. In a tweet today, former prime minister Imran Khan also demanded immediate action against the “law of the jungle”. On Wednesday morning, Balochistan Minister for Home Affairs Mir Ziaullah Langove wrote a letter to the law enforcement agencies seeking the “safe recovery” of Marri’s family members.
The letter was addressed to the additional chief secretary of Balochistan, inspector general of police, joint director of the Intelligence Bureau, The Headquarter Inter-Services Intelligence and Headquarter Military Intelligence. It stated with “grave concern” that some of Muhammad Khan Marri’s family were still “missing”, which “generates a bad impact on law and order as well as on the image of law enforcement agencies”. “It is the responsibility of all law enforcement agencies to protect the life of the public,” the letter pointed out. “Keeping in view of the above, it is stated that immediate steps be taken for the safe recovery of all remaining family members and a report therefore may be submitted in the office of the undersigned within 24 hours, positively,” it added. On Tuesday, Langove had said that a five-member JIT has been constituted headed by DIG Loralai, which would submit its report within 30 days.
Locals had informed the authorities about the presence of the three bodies in the well, after which levies personnel and other security officials rushed to the site and recovered the bodies. Police said that unknown people had thrown the bodies in a deep well after killing the mother and her two sons. The bodies had bullet wounds in their skulls and bore marks of torture, which pointed to their cause of death, hospital officials in Kohlu said after examining the bodies. Their hands and feet were tied with ropes, while the woman’s face was crushed, they said. They were identified by Abdul Qayoom Bijrani Marri, whom the police described as an heir. The bodies were handed over to him after the completion of legal requirements, the police added. Khetran has denied the allegation and termed it a conspiracy. It was an attempt to defame and remove him as the tribal head of the Khetran tribe, the minister said.
