Two brothers were killed on the hills of Salargah when they were out grazing their sheep and goats a couple of weeks ago.

Their father, 62-year-old Gul Rehman, says no progress has been made in the case registered for his sons’ murders.

Gul Rehman belongs to a nomad Gujjar clan from Kohistan known as Pawandhas. His clan has for centuries moved between the snow-covered mountains in the north and the plains of Punjab with the change in weather every year with their animals.

Gul Rehman, who has lost use of one of his legs, moves to the Shadi village near the Hattar Industrial Estate in the winters from Allai tehsil in district Battagram and has done so for a decade.

In November last year, he moved his family including his mentally challenged wife, two daughters, one of whom is also mentally challenged, and two sons, Sher Khan and Krar Khan with their large herd of goats and sheep.

His herd had multiplied the previous season and Gul Rehman had planned to get both his sons married after selling half his herd when they returned to their native land in March this year.

Sher Khan and Krar Khan went to graze their herd of some 200 sheep and goats in the nearby hills of Salargarh a couple of weeks ago and did not return in the evening. Gul Rehman and some of the locals went to look for them in the nearby pastures and announcements were made for the two men in local mosques as well.

On Jan 25, some local shepherds found two bodies in the hills. The bodies were unrecognisable but Gul Rehman identified his sons from the clothes they were wearing.

The two men had been stoned and the killers had made off with their herd.

“They had hit my sons in the face and head with stones and they were unrecognisable,” Mr Rehman said.

He said the perpetrators could have just taken the animals as his sons were not armed.

He said that his wife still asks for them every night at dinner time.

Gul Rehman said the police did register a double murder case but have not made any progress in the investigations.

He said his family does not have the resources to pursue the investigation and that he thinks the police are not interested in the case because he is poor.

Locals say no NGO or influential personalities have taken up the case either.

Sub-Divisional Police Officer DSP Javed Hassan said the police registered a case against unknown assailants and that investigations are underway. He said blind murder cases take time to solve.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2019