CHARSADDA: Police on Saturday arrested 13 people on the charge of burning alive a wheelchair-bound man, who was suspected of killing a boy over the alleged theft of a goat late on Friday.

The man died of critical injuries afterwards.

Confirming this, the police said that the incident took place in Paladheri area in the limits of city police station, where protesters demonstrating against killing of a youth turned into mob and went to the disabled suspect’s residence and set it on fire, also burning him alive. His mother was also grievously wounded in the arson attack.

Mobile phone videos of the rioters pushing the wheelchair-bound man from roof of the house into fire were also shared on social media. The videos showed a big crowd surrounding a burning house and chanting slogans.

CM seeks report on incident from police chief

Charsadda District Police Officer Asif Bahadar told Dawn that the slain wheelchair-bound suspect was identified as Suliman alias Malang Jan, who allegedly earlier shot dead Shahsawar, 22, apparently in a dispute over theft of a goat.

Malang Jan’s mother told police that Shahsawar used to tease his son. She said that on Friday her son had a quarrel with Shahsawar – who was killed later in the night – and afterwards Ajmal, Bakhtiar, Siraj and others surrounded their house and brought down its boundary wall.

She said that she along with her daughter and wheelchair-bound son took refuge on the floor of house. She said the rioters first torched her house and later managed to make their way to the floor and pushed her disabled son into fire. She said the rioters also pushed her into fire, grievously wounding her.

SHO city police station Behrmand Shah said when they tried to rescue the besieged family, the mob also attacked them with sticks and stones, injuring him and other police personnel.

He said that they rescued the woman and retrieved the body of her son from the fire.

The police have booked Anees, Saeedullah, Waseemullah, Sawar, Siraj, Kaleem, Irfan, Intikhab, Talha, Niazullah and others under section 302, 324, 436, 427, 148 and 149 of Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, for torching the house and killing the man.

They registered another FIR against Malang Jan for killing Shahsawar. It stated that Malang Jan opened fire on the youth on the instigation of his father. It added that sometimes back Malang Jan’s goat was stolen by unknown people and they were suspecting Shahsawar for the theft.

On Saturday, family members of the 13 suspects, who had been detained for burning a man to death, took the body of Shahsawar to Farooq Azam Chowk and staged a sit-in demanding their immediate release.

They protesters said on the one hand a youth of their family had been murdered, on the other hand their people had been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Later, provincial minister for law Fazal Shakoor Khan and religious scholar Mufti Abdullah Shah held talks with the protesters and following assurances of fair investigations, they protesters dispersed after offering funeral of slain Shahsawar in the chowk.

Separately, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan also took notice of the Charsadda incident and directed IGP Moazzam Jan Ansari to present a report about the incident.

Mr Khan condemned the violence and directed the police to ensure fair and transparent investigation of the case.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2021