Investigative & analytical revision on persons who had a violent past, they settled somewhere else and lived a normal life
Zaib Azkaar Hussain
Karachi
Is it believable that hundreds of individuals are now earning their livelihood in different major cities while they had a violent past? Don’t worry they are now living a normal life with decent appearances.
These individuals seem to be very honest, peaceful and friendly. Obviously, since they have no dispute with general people, they could pass their time patiently and fairly without any threat of apprehension.
An investigative survey conducted by Pak Chronicle brings to light startling facts and surprising realities of the fugitives.
Four Factors Involved in Fleeing from Native Places:
Most of the people had a chain of tragic incidents about their disappearance from their native villages, towns and cities. The investigations reveal that four factors were working in leaving the areas behind the moving from the respective areas of the fugitives:
First reason was to save their lives from the enemies who did not believe in police, rules and regulations and instead prefer to catch their enemies, opponents and even supporters of their enemies under all circumstances.
Although the runners of ‘jirga system’ are so influential than the police, but at times they do avoid to interfere unless they are approached to play a part to this effect.
Secondly, the fugitives hailed of such a tribe that was determined to fight against some individuals of its opponent tribe. The fugitives concerned either were directly involved or not, they were made it clear that they would have to follow the rule to keep up fighting against certain tribesmen allegedly involved in the crimes against their own (fugitives’ own) tribe.
Many people did not follow this forced direction and ran away from their respective areas.
Third and rather a new element of enmity emerged in the big cities and that was the political enmity. Surprisingly, the cities; especially those industrialized one were considered to be free of biases and political enmity but time changed and political opponents became political enemies of each other.
In various thickly populated cities, the political groups caused influence to such an extent that the families divided into groups and used to support one and oppose another that led to deadly enmity.
This enmity not only caused violence but finally led hiding of the elements; mostly youths involved in crimes.
The fourth element of enmity was a strange one as the killer has no personal enmity with the person who was going to be killed but he was either paid for this killing or he was forced by some powerful ‘mafia’ to kill their enemy or opponent. In such cases, the suspected killers are said to have moved from one city to another area.
Many are also claimed by the police (in courts at the time of hearings) that they had left the country and settled in some foreign country. In some of the cases, the courts ordered the government to approach the Interpol and arrange arrest of the killers to bring them Pakistan for production before the court. Yet this practice could be adopted in very few cases.
The youths involved in crimes either fled away to foreign countries or shifted to other parts of the countries such as they moved from Lahore to Rawalpindi and Islamabad to Karachi and also from Karachi to Islamabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi and other cities.
Suspected killer of 7 Persons arrested after 18 Years:
Take the instance of a suspected killer of seven people Sajid Mehmood who was arrested from Islamabad, the other day after the passage of 18 years.
The accused had killed two persons due to old enmity in 2000 and later in 2001, he killed five other people owing to the old enmity in Gujrat. The suspect is described to have fled away to a foreign country. The government had announced Rs200,000 as reward against his apprehension. The suspect now was residing in Islamabad when the Gujrat police came to know about his residence and a police party conducted a raid and arrested the suspected killer of seven innocent people after the passage of 18 years.
The question is that a man involved in heinous crimes (murders) used to live another ‘normal life’ among the law-abiding citizens. How strange is this that a man declared to be as proclaimed offender would live a normal life for years and the people around him remained quite ignorant about his violent past.
Political Enmity Playing its Role behind some running away cases:
A group of youths in Karachi told this scribe that many of their class fellows and friends had to leave the city due to fear of police as they were warned of apprehension due to political enmity. The group said that there was no political crisis at this time but due to political confusion among the political groups and parties, the youths who had some political affiliations in the past had fears to be arrested and perhaps this factor forced them to go in hiding.
A young man Nadeem Ahmed told that he knew a man namely Riaz Razi who had spent four years with a family (his relatives) who later was exposed by the police that he was a suspected killer of eight persons of a family.
Before his arrest he at times used to act as cook and servant as well and had a routine to buy grocery etc. for the family. The police party told the family that so-called driver-cum-cook had killed eight members of a family due to old enmity.
Nadeem held that Razi was very popular among the family for his wits, hard work and kind behaviour till a police party came from Sialkot to Karachi to arrest him.
In October 2018 the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Sindh police in collaboration with the Islamabad police had claimed to have arrested a suspect in Karachi who was allegedly involved in a murder case in the federal capital.
Suspect Faryad, was arrested during a joint operation of the CTD and Islamabad police. According to CTD SSP Junaid Shaikh, the accused was wanted to the Islamabad police for his alleged involvement in the murder a factory owner, Imdad, in Islamabad.
According to the CTD officials, the man has been accused of killing Imdad and dumping his body in the factory premises before escaping with an amount of Rs500,000.
The police confirmed that suspect fled Islamabad after the murder and shifted to Karachi where he had been working as a labourer.
Perween Rehman’s suspected killer arrested from Mansehra:
Similarly, a suspected target killer and key accused in the murder of Orangi Pilot Project Director Perween Rahman was arrested from Kashmir Bazar in Mansehra during a joint operation conducted by Karachi and Mansehra police in Mansehra in March 2015. She was gunned down in March 2013. Key accused Ahmed Khan alias Pappu Kashmiri used to live a routine life among law-abiding citizens for a period of two years.
In January 2019 Islamabad Police resolved 72 murder cases during 2018 including 21 blind cases and arrested 42 culprits involved in the crime. Saddar Zone had traced 22 cases and arrested 60 accused, city zone traced 17 cases and arrested 30 accused.
Industrial-Area zone resolved 11 cases and arrested 21 accused. Rural zone resolved 22 cases and arrested 66 accused. The police had completed the investigation and forwarded cases to courts, said a police spokesperson.
Available resources and latest investigation techniques were utilized to resolve these cases, the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson informed that the SSP Islamabad has directed to give priority to of murder cases and book the culprits. The SSP Islamabad has also directed all SDPOs and SHOs to further enhance their professional capabilities for combating crimes and ensure the protection of life and property of citizens. The SSP declared was the responsibility of the police to arrest the killers of innocent people and provide justice to the bereaved families. The SSP directed to give priority to of murder cases and book the culprits.
Most of the people who are in hiding in different cities once had deadly enmity with other individuals and members of their opponent tribes or families who are, now no more on this planet.
These individual either had hit someone while settling old scores with their enemies, or due to fear to fall prey to their enemies, they preferred to leave their area for good and moved to Karachi, Lahore or other big city to take shelter.
Family Enmities Forcing People to leave Ancestral Areas:
Ironically, these poor people (rather victims) of their old enemies had no fault on their part. Instead their family members had committed some crime against the old foes and fled away. Their running left a message for other family members to also run away and to protect themselves. In order to save their skins, the ignorant family members (of the real situation) took no time to leave their ancestors area for good and did settle down in a new strange city. These family members (mostly male members) chose to live in Karachi, Lahore, Sukkur, Multan, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Abbottabad and other thickly populated towns.
A middle-aged man, working as waiter at a local hotel in Karachi told this scribe on the condition of anonymity that “I was 10-year-old when I came to know about this dreadful reality that our lives were under a constant threat due to our neighbours hailing of some other opponent tribe.”
He further stated that he was always advised strictly by his parents to be very careful and never go out of home alone. Later on, he concluded, when he reached the age of 24, he did not care of the advices of his parents and used to move singly and one day he was targeted by someone. He said he remained totally ignorant that who had opened fire on him.
Luckily the bullet did not touch him and caused no harm. On the other hand, the unknown attacker hiding behind some bushes ran away upon his cries.
The local people gathered and brought him to his home. His parents, (father and two elder brothers) immediately declared a war against the neighbours. It was their good luck or a bad luck, they were not present at their home and were out of town due to attend some marriage, he added.
He further stated their absence established a suspicion against them and his parents declared the neighbours as attackers. The father announced that his son was targeted on the behest of their neighbours.
Interestingly, the neighbours never turned up to their home. Perhaps they were informed by someone about the negative designs of his (man’s) parents.
The two families never confronted each other apparently but kept up hatching intrigues against each other and had to suffer a lot due to a constant threat to their lives. Ultimately a day came when his father died and after his death, the two brother advised him (victim) to go in hiding till they settle the old score. The victim who was never hit by the enemies had to leave for Karachi. The poor victim told that he was very lucky that no any old foe hit him and a very bad luck to him was that he never turned up to his hometown due to fear of revenge from the foes.
There are men who have been living in a miserable condition as they fear that some of the supporters of their deceased enemies could come and kill them, a factory worker stated.
The worker said most of the fugitives (of their enemies) were working as venders and as informal workers at tea shops, restaurants, factories and mills located in different areas of the city. They are working as venders at commercial markets and salesmen selling households and other items.
It is said that hundreds of lives have been lost in Balochistan province due to old enmities. Once at least 15 people were killed and many others injured in four tribal clashes in Balochistan and Sindh.
In Dera Murad Jamali, five persons, including four of a family, were killed and one was injured when unidentified gunmen barged into the house of Nawab Khan Domki and opened indiscriminate fire.
Nawab Khan’s four children — Rajab Ali, 15; Sabzal, 8; Gohar Khatoon, 6; and Zehra Bibi, 4 — and a guest, Ali Murad, were killed on the spot.
The injured, Damsaz Ali Talani Domki, was taken to the Chandka Medical Hospital, Larkana.
The attack was said to be the result of an enmity between Bugti and Domki tribes.
Four persons of the Mahar and Jatoi tribes were killed and several others injured in a clash between the two tribes in the Budho village.
The clash followed kidnapping of a Mahar tribesman, Muharram Ali, from his farm in the Budho village by some Jatoi tribesmen.
Muharram Mahar, Gul Sher Jatoi, Mohammad Hassan Jatoi and another man of the Jatoi tribe were killed in the clash. The names of the injured could not be ascertained.
Tension prevailed in the area after the incident and the tribes have entrenched against each other.
Three persons were killed and two others injured in an armed clash between two groups of the Atrani Jatoi tribe in the Nabeerabad village, Shikarpur district, on Saturday evening.
Sodho, Hashim and Gul Mohammad were killed and Imdad and Babul were injured in the clash which is said to be a result of a land dispute.
Two Jagirini tribesmen were shot dead and two others injured near the Dilshair Jatoi village of Kingri Taluka on Saturday in an attack by a group of Narejo tribesmen, reports Mansoor Mirani in Khairpur.
The Narejos opened fire on the Jagiranis who were harvesting wheat.
Pathan Jagirani and Bhai Khan Jagirani were killed and Ghulam Shabbir Jagirani and a passerby, Bakht Ali Janwari, sustained bullet injuries. The injured were taken to a hospital in Pir-jo-Goth.
Ghulam Akbar, son of Ghulam Nabi Narejo, was killed in the Baradi Jatoi area reportedly in a revenge attack by Jagirani tribesmen.
In Sukkur a youth was gunned down by four unknown assailants over an old dispute when he, along with his wife and mother, was busy buying some eatables in village Jagan in the limits of Hamayoon Police Station and the reason was the same old enmity.
In other parts of the city, the situations is also alarming and a very common aspect of the matter is that in almost every incident, the killers were described to be absconders. The question is that where do these killers fled away after killing. The most of the cases in tribal areas and other cities (where people believed in getting revenge their own) no any cases were registered by the victim families as their youths declare not to spare their enemies and would take revenge by chasing them.
Authorities taking least interest to settle issues:
A senior lawyer and human right activist Shakeel Ahmed Satti regretted on the prevailing situation, adding the elders of the tribes, jirgas and other government departments dealing with the law and justice took least interest to resolve the issues and disputes in the past. He said such issues must be addressed as they were causing a great hurdle in the advancement and development of the general people of this country. The elders must spread education and awareness among their followers and the tribe members and laws should also be reframed in order to check the criminals, fugitives and patrons of crimes so the suspected killers could be brought to justice.
Advocate Shakeel Ahmed Satti expressed his deep concern over the issue of political enmity in cities. He observed that instead of controlling the situation and educating people on the rule of law, the leaders of different groups had preferred to plead their certain political agendas and priorities that generated to ‘a new kind of old enmity’ that affected youths’ future. He concluded this issue must be settled once for all. He expressed his hope that the federal government would take interest in understanding these serious legal issues in order to check and address properly to get rid of killings in the name of old enmity and rivalry.
Ends
