August 12, 2007	Sunday	Rajab 27, 1428

GUJRANWALA: The blank looks of murder convict Maulvi Sarwar’s 12-year-old son, agony hidden in the wrinkles of his ageing mother, tearful eyes of his wife and silence of his brothers reveal untold ordeal they have been going through for the last many months.

They have been exposed to public abhorrence and stigma for the wrong of their dear one who has been awarded capital punishment for killing a provincial minister at a public meeting. His immediate family and relatives have been living a life of trial ever since he committed the crime to carry out extremist designs.

Prior to the minister’s killing, Maulvi Sarwar, a father of nine, had allegedly killed four prostitutes but was let off the hook as no witness was willing to appear in court. His acquittal by a local court and lack of interest by the public goaded him to take a step further and he murdered provincial minister Zile Huma Usman when she was conducting an open court at the Muslim League House on Feb 19.

On March 20, Anti-Terrorism Court No 2 judge Tariq Iftikhar handed down capital punishment to Maulvi Sarwar and the jail authorities filed an appeal against the decision in the Lahore High Court, which was rejected on July 9.

The jail authorities claimed that they were now appealing the case in the Supreme Court because his family had refused to pursue the case. They also claimed that for last six months no one from his relatives, except his wife and children, had come to see him.

Muhammad Afzal, a brother of Maulvi Sarwar, told Dawn that when he (Sarwar) was arrested the police exerted pressure on him and threatened him with detaining women of the family if he did not disclose which religious outfit Maulvi Sarwar belong to.

He quoted the police as saying that Maulvi Sarwar was acquitted of killing prostitutes because he (Afzal) pursued the cases. The law enforcers, he said, took his signature on affidavits to prevent the family from pursuing the second case (minister’s murder).

“So scared we are of the police that when an advocate of Lahore High court offered free service, I refused to pursue the case. It is only because of fear of the police,” he said.

He said his family had been deprived of the basic right of pursuing a case and the police were fulfilling formalities of filing appeals in higher courts without proper legal counselling for his brother who, he insisted, committed the crime because of his whims and not under the nose of some militant group.

Afzal said no relative, except Sarwar’s wife and children, was allowed to see him in the prison.

People’s abhorrence of Sarwar’s kin had made his whole family ‘social prisoners’ which could affect the future of his five daughters, he said.

Muhammad Alam, a son of Sarwar, told Dawn that happiness had turned its face from his family. He said his friends saw him with ‘strange looks’ for his father’s wrong and now he confined himself to his house or shop which he had been running since his father’s imprisonment.

He said all of his siblings too had similar feelings as they looked dejected as did their mother and grandmother who broke into tears many times in a day. “Sarcastic remarks by the people make our life tough,” he sobbed out.

For Sarwar’s ageing mother “life has become painful for her as she often imagines her son being hanged. She has been spending sleepless nights for the last many months.”

She said the death of his son would kill half of the family while the other members would have to live at the mercy of society.