LAHORE: Grizzled and hardened looking policemen sit languidly in the heat of the day in their police cars at the main Youhanabad gate. Some of them are inside the vehicle while others stand outside, batons in hand. Like hawks ready for prey, their eyes travel over everyone who is entering the area. One of them even walks inside surveying something.

The presence of the police has done nothing to calm the nervousness and fear of the already insecure Christian community living there. Instead their presence and regular rounds inside the locality has left them extremely scared of what may come next.

Already, people in the neighbourhood say more than 100 young men and boys have been picked up by the police of the adjoining stations, and for none did they have any warrants. Residents complain that almost everyone’s homes have been barged into, and their sons or brothers picked up.

Several corners in the area have become markers of solemnity as candles have been placed under the portraits of those who have been killed in the blast including those who sacrificed their lives in saving the others. Dry rose petals have been strewn along the footpaths outside the Christ Church. Zaid Yousuf aka Goga who was famous in the area, has become a local martyr. So has Aakash. And the picture of a couple who worked at Lahore’s General Hospital has also been put up outside the church. The smiling couple in the picture has left behind a two-year-old daughter. The woman was pregnant when she was killed.

Inside Goga’s house neighbours are collecting to meet with the family. There is disorientation and fear, and a high sense of insecurity.

Zareen Masih who lives nearby says that all her five sons and her brother were picked up by the police at 10 pm some nights ago.

“We were sleeping early that night and the police barged inside, grabbed hold of all the men, and dragged them outside,” she says. “In some people’s houses the police have even entered by climbing a ladder. None of those picked up are aware of what has happened. Their families do not know where they are – dead or alive.”

Her sister-in-law’s son has also been taken from the same house.

Another old man Akram says his three brothers and a son were all whisked away the same night. Ironically one of the sons was left behind for some reason.

“We do understand that those who have burnt the two men should be punished but all of those picked up by watching the video are not guilty,” he says. “Some were only standing and watching.”

“Since three or four days this kind of behaviour from the police has become too much,” says Goga’s nephew. “Now the blast has been forgotten and the whole issue has become about the lynching. Everyday some plainclothes men come and point out boys, and at night the police from adjacent stations especially Nishtar police station come and pick up these boys and take them secretly. They do not even tell them why they are being taken.”

The people say two of the policemen Akmal and Bala are the worst in their attitudes and because they have been stationed for a very long time without transfer, know the people living there.

This comes only some days after a Christian, Zubair Masih, was killed during police torture in Harbanspura. There were also reports of firing at a church in Township area two days ago.

Going from house to house is MPA Shunila Ruth who is trying to unofficially make a list of missing boys.

“I will be filing a petition soon,” she says. “We need to make this clear that these people also have their rights and the police cannot just pick them up when they want.”

“My wife is pregnant and could not sleep all night in fear,” says Shiraz, Goga’s nephew. “Even our unborn children survive in fear.”

The residents expressed their extreme disappointment and anger at the fact that Mian Shahbaz Sharif who won from the area had not come to even meet the residents of Youhanabad even two weeks on.

Meanwhile, Tariq Javed Tariq, who was a former Nazim of Youhanabad and whose wife Shazia Tariq is also an MPA, says, “On the third day of the incident the CM had to deter an attack from the neighbouring localities in order to avoid a serious clash between religious groups. Otherwise some outsiders had filled in containers full of petrol and were coming to attack us here. They had to be calmed down by being promised that the miscreants who lynched would be arrested soon.”

He says that some of the boys picked up might have also given more names, whether under torture it was not known. “I am sure that they might have been made to talk using force, as is always the custom with the police,” he says.

A senior resident who has been a squadron fighter in the Pakistan Air Force sees things with suspicion.

“We were the innocents until this incident happened, and then all sympathy was taken away from us,” he said. “Nothing from the murder of Liaquat Ali Khan to the Youhanabad incident has been done without any planning. Those who created havoc were organised, and they were in the mood for destruction and clashes. They did not even belong here I am sure. If someone’s house is on fire will they try to save it, or will they get out on the main road and burn someone?”

Meanwhile, an ASI of the Special Branch says that it should be obvious to everyone why these boys were being picked up. “After such a horrific incident, isn’t it normal that those under suspicion are taken by the police?” he asks. He shakes his head when asked if they can be reached by their families. “They are in CIA Model Town and cannot be in contact with their families. And I do not think they will be let off too soon either.”

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2015

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