September 15, 2008	Monday	Ramazan 14, 1429

SHIKARPUR, Sept 14: Sultankot police freed two sisters and their brother in an early morning raid on the house of their grandfather Hamal Shar in the Hamal village on Sunday. Police conducted the raid under an FIR lodged by Head Constable Karim Bux Shar and his daughter Ms Gulshan, wife of Sanaullah Shar, accusing Sanaullah and his relatives of kidnapping her sisters Ms Koonj, 18, Ms Rukhsana, 12, and brother Habibullah two days ago. Ms Rukhsana is deaf, dumb and partially paralysed.

The kidnapping was preceded by Ms Gulshan’s escape from home and her taking shelter in a women’s police station in Sukkur on Thursday night. She told police that she had fled home because her husband was planning to kill her on the pretext of karo-kari.

Sukkur DPO Sharjeel Kharal said that she had arrived in his office on Thursday and sought protection against her in-laws. Police produced her in court on Friday and then lodged her in Darul Amman on court orders, he said.

The girls’ grandfather vehemently denied the charges of kidnapping. He said neither had they issued threats to kill Ms Gulshan, her two sisters and a brother nor Ms Gulshan had been declared a kari.

Ms Gulshan said in her statement before the court of third additional sessions judge, Tashkeel Haider Shah, that five months after her marriage with her cousin, Sanaullah, he and her in-laws started torturing her and then she came to know one day that they were planning to kill her on the pretext of karo-kari.She said that she fled her home one day for fear of getting killed and took refuge at the house of an influential of Shar tribe, who later handed her over to another influential chieftain of Shar clan in Daharki.

The court ordered police to lodge Ms Gulshan in Darul Amman when she insisted that she did not want to go back to her husband’s house.

Sources in police said that the sisters had been handed over to Sukkur police because the FIRs had been registered at the B-Section police station Sukkur on the complaint lodged by Karim Bux Shar and his daughter Ms Gulshan.

Sukkur DPO said that Karim Bux and Ms Gullan, parents of Ms Gulshan, and the rest of their children had arrived in Sukkur women police station on Saturday and complained that Sanaullah and his accomplices had raided their house and kidnapped Koonj and Rukhsana after the court sent Gulshan to Darul Amman on Friday.

He said that that Sanaulah had threatened he would kill his daughters if they did not hand him over Gulshan, said the DPO.

Two FIRs had been lodged against 10 people at B-Section police station including Sanaullah, Amanullah, Taj Mohammad, Aslam, Nasrullah, Saleem, Allah Warrayo and two unknown people.

DIG Bashir Memon had ordered Sukkur and Shikarpur police to make joint efforts to safely recover the kidnapped daughters of Karim Bux and a joint police party headed by SHO of Sultankot police station raided the village and recovered the hostages.