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SUKKUR, June 16: Saira Jatoi and Mohammad Ismail Soomro, who were saved by police from being killed as punishment for marrying of their own free will, were produced in the court of second civil judge and judicial magistrate on Monday amid tight security.
The judge Iqbal Maitlo recorded the couple’s statements under section 164. Ms Saira said in her statement that she had married of her own free will with Ismail and wanted to live with him.
She appealed to court for providing them security as they faced threats to their lives. Police, later shifted the couple to an undisclosed place.
Police also produced in the court Mir Jatoi, accused in the kidnapping of Dr. Jawed Soomro and his wife Sumaiya Soomro, and the judge remanded him for four days in police custody.
The couple who married of their own free will in the district and sessions court of Sukkur on June 7 last year, faced imminent death after a jirga declared her kari.
The marriage sparked enmity between the two tribes and led to kidnapping of Ismail Soomro’s maternal uncle, Dr. Jawed Soomro, and his wife Sumaiya Soomro reportedly by Jatois from their residence in New Pind 12 days ago.
The kidnapping forced the couple, who had been residing in Karachi for eight months for fear of danger to their lives, to return to Sukkur last week.
Sources close to the matter said that as soon as they arrived they were shifted to Mangi Laro of Shikarpur, where a jirga jointly led by Sardar Junaid Soomro and Sardar Abid Hussain Jatoi decided to release the kidnappees and ordered Ismail to divorce his six-month pregnant wife.
Under the decision, she was to be handed over to Sardar Abid Hussain Jatoi after divorce and preparations were under way to put her to death, but Ismail refused to divorce and then the couple was moved to some undisclosed place till further decision about their fate.
On Friday evening, DIG Sukkur Bashir Ahmed Memon received a tip-off about the whereabouts of the couple and ordered the ASP Dr. Khurram Rasheed to conduct raid and recover the couple. The ASP raided Mangi Laro and recovered the couple, without firing a single bullet.
Later, an FIR was lodged under sections 148, 149, 364, 342, 506/2 of PPC against 11 people including, Sardar Junaid Soomro, Sardar Abid Hussain Jatoi and a police constable Nisar Soomro on the complaint of SHO Abdul Malik Kamangar at B-section police station.
TRADERS PROTEST: Scores of traders took out a rally and demonstrated outside the press club on Monday in protest against unannounced and hours-long loadshedding, issuance of detection and inflated bills, and charging 500 extra units from air-conditioner users by Hesco.
Led by President Sukkur Small Traders Haji Mohammad Haroon Memon, Haji Mohammad Sabbir, Khawaja Jalil and others traders took out a rally from Shaheed Ganj raised slogans against Hesco, marched on main thoroughfares and reached the press club.
Haji Mohammad Haroon Memon slammed the Utility, demanded immediate end to power outages, detection bills, and excess readings by charging 500 units extra from air-conditioner users.
He said consumers were getting huge bills despite 10 to 14 hours of outages, along with detection bills - a highly condemnable act. He warned against resorting to strong protest movement if Hesco did not provide respite to its consumers.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people of Gharib Abad Muhalla staged protest demonstration and a sit-in at the Clock Tower against non-availability of power in their area since a night before.
The protestors said that transformer of their area busted the previous night but had not been replaced.
