Five of a family shot dead in Lahore: Over a dozen protesters held after violence
By Asif Shahzad
LAHORE, May 14: Five members of a family, including an infant, and their maid were found murdered in their house-cum-school at Lal Pull in the city's Mughalpura area on Friday.
Riots erupted in the locality when a group of people belonging to a particular sect held protests to condemn the killings. Police fired shots into the air and baton-charged the protesters when they torched a police van and damaged several other vehicles. Over a dozen people were taken into custody.
"Apparently, it seems to be a terrorist act," Lahore police chief DIG Tariq Saleem told reporters. "But other motives cannot be ruled out. We can't say anything with certainty until we investigate the incident thoroughly," he said, adding that special teams had been set up to investigate the crime.
Referring to graffiti written on the house walls against a sect, Lahore operations police chief Aftab Cheema said it could be an attempt to mislead the investigation.
He said no fingerprints could be found at the scene implying that the killers had used gloves. He said a receipt of the recently purchased gloves was found in the house.
The watchman was the first to spot the bodies when he went into the house after getting no response to his repeated knocks on the door. He called the police.
The police entered the house owned by Sajjad Ahmad Shah, 36, a textile mill manager. His wife Saima Sajjad, 27, had been running a school in the house. His brother-in-law Naveed Ahmad Shah, 32, also lived in the house with his wife Sobia Naveed, 25.
The police said that the body of the teenage maid, Sonia, was lying in the garage. The bodies of Sajjad, his wife and their infant daughter, Fatima, were in one bedroom and those of the other couple in another room.
Adhesive tapes were stuck on the victims' lips with their hands and feet tied, the police said and added that the victims had been shot in their heads and faces.
All the rooms had been ransacked, the police said, adding that the evidence suggested the killers had spent much time in the house as they had been eating and drinking there.
The police sent the bodies to the mortuary for autopsy.
No case was registered. A brother of the family's head was on his way to Lahore from Rawalpindi on whose complaint a case would be registered, said the police.
Workers of some Shia parties gathered in the locality in the evening and blocked roads and burnt tyres to protest the multiple murder.
They turned violent when the police tried to use force to disperse them. They pelted the police as well as moving vehicles and shops in the area with stones.
The police used teargas and batons against the protesters who set a police van on fire.
JAMALI'S CONDOLENCES: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Friday condemned the dastardly act of terrorism in Lahore in which five members of a family had been gunned down, APP adds from Islamabad.
Reiterating his government's resolve to combat terrorism, the prime minister said that whoever was involved in this heinous act would be dealt with an iron hand.
Mr Jamali directed the Punjab government to move swiftly against the culprits and bring them to book.
He condoled with the bereaved family and prayed to Allah to rest the departed souls in peace and grant fortitude to the family to bear the loss.
