GUJRAT: A 12-year-old brother of two slain Spanish national sisters who was allegedly missing since their murder by the family was residing in the house of a close relative in the same village, Nothia, in the Gulliana police precincts. He has been reunited with his mother.

Both the sisters Arooj Abbas (24) and Aneesa Abbas (21) were killed by their family, including two brothers, an uncle and two cousins who were also their finances, a day after they returned to the village from Spain. They had been demanding divorce from their fiancés, Hassan and Atiq, whereas the family had been pressing them to expedite the processing to get visas for their fiances.

The reunion of son, Fakhar Abbas, with his mother was made at the office of Gujrat District Police Officer Ataur Rehman where Azra Bibi hugged her youngest son in the presence of her brother who had returned from the UK last week.

Police said Fakhar Abbas had been recovered from a relative’s house in the same village.

The mother and the son with police security left for some safe location in another city where the mother had already been residing.

The mother had expressed her grave concerns about the well being and whereabouts of her ‘missing’ son after her two other sons, Shehryar and Asfandyar, were arrested by the police for killing their sisters.

Meanwhile, a police source said the suspect, Shehryar, had confessed his crime, saying he had had shot Arooj dead after she declined to show him the mobile phone that she had hit with a wall to break it since the family suspected that she had a relationship with a Pakistani man in Spain.

Gujrat DPO told Dawn the samples of the bodies were sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency and the report was being awaited. He said the autopsy report had indicated that Aneesa was stangled while Arooj was shot dead.

On the other hand, police on Saturday produced all the six suspects in the murder case before the court of the Kharian magistrate after completion of five days physical remand and sought extension. The court extended the remand for five more days.

Pakistani consul general in Barcelona, Spain, Mirza Salman, held a news conference there on Friday to brief the Spanish media on the details of the murder case.

A spokesman for Gujrat police said they had provided the Pakistani Consulate with details. It was informed that the passports of both the mother and her minor son had also been returned to them.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2022