SUKKUR: Civil society activists held demonstrations in Jacobabad and Hyderabad on Tuesday in protest against the murder of artist Qutub Rind, a student of the National College of Arts (NCA), in Lahore on July 17.
They joined in the protest by the bereaved family and their relatives in his home town, Jacobabad. The protesters marched through the streets of the city raising slogans for justice.
The march started from Shaheed Allah Bux Park and ended with a demonstration outside the local press club. Vehicular traffic on the roads leading to the DC Chowk and venue of the demonstration remained suspended during the course of the protest.
Civil society activists Jan Odhano, G.M. Soomro and Sha’aban Abro as well as the victim’s uncle, Gul Baig Rind, spoke to the participants.
They condemned the brutality on the part of the killers, saying that his limbs were broken with iron rods before he was thrown out of his rented apartment on the third floor of a building in Lahore.
They alleged that police let off the culprits after accepting bribe and detained a drug addict, Ahsan, as the suspect.
They urged the chief justice of Pakistan to institute a judicial inquiry into the murder and order arrest of real killers.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB) district president Nadeem Ahmed Qureshi and other office-bearers have strongly condemned the murder.
In a press statement issued here on Tuesday, they demanded immediate arrest of the killers and exemplary punishment to them. They announced that protest would be held on Friday to press for justice to Qutub Rind’s family.
Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP) leader Jam Abdul Fatah Samejo visited the bereaved family to offer his condolences.
In Hyderabad, a number of rights activists and artists participated in a protest demonstration, organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), outside the local press club against the brutal killing of Qutub Rind.
The protest was led by HRCP Hyderabad task force coordinator Dr Ashothama Lohana and Muhib Ali Rind, the brother of Qutub Rind. Artists including Sajida Mahar, Harji Lal, Anil, Shahzad Rashdi and Dr Fateh Daudpoto also participated in the protest.
They told reporters that the protest was aimed at pressing the Lahore police to handle the case with proper procedure and not to commit any inefficiency. They said that it was a simple case of murder over a rent dispute and had no links with blasphemy.
They said Qutub Rind was living in a rented flat in Lahore, Punjab, where he was brutally tortured to death by the owners of the flat over some issue of payment of rent.
Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2018
