QUETTA: The Supreme Court ordered the Balochistan inspector general and deputy commissioner and police officer of Qila Abdullah district on Wednesday to arrest and produce before it within 10 days a man involved in firing at the house of Obaidullah to pressurise him to marry off his 10-year-old sister with the accused.

A three-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, while taking up an application filed by Obaidullah at the court’s Quetta registry, also directed IG Moazzam Jah Ansari, the deputy commissioner and the district police officer to provide full protection to the family of the applicant.

Mr Obaidullah, a resident of the Gulistan area of Qila Abdullah, said in his application that Din Mohammad, an old man, forcibly wanted to marry his sister and last year he had opened fire on his house and warned that “your 10-year-old sister is my wife and no other man can marry her”.

He said he had lodged an FIR against the accused and his associates who were threatening him and his family with dire consequences, but police had not arrested them.

The applicant said that due to threats his sister could not go out of the house, forcing the family to leave their native town and move to Quetta.

The girl also attended the hearing along with her brother.

The Qila Abdullah deputy commissioner informed the bench that police had raided the house of the accused — a truck driver — but he was not found there.

The investigation officer informed the bench that four accused nominated in the case had been arrested by police, but they obtained bail from court. He said only the main accused, Din Mohammad, was still absconder.

The next hearing of the case will be held on April 23 in Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2018