QUETTA: The Marri woman who last week was rescued from captivity along with her children after spending years in a private jail in Barkhan town narrated her ordeal on Sunday, recalling that the family was subjected to torture, kept separately in small rooms and weren’t allowed to meet with each other.

“It was a horrible experience that we can’t forget,” Granaz Bibi, wife of Khan Muhammad Marri, said in a recorded video message released on Sunday. Her two teenage sons also narrated what happened to them while in captivity.

The woman recalled that she and her three children, including a daughter, had been recovered by the police and Levies officials from the Duki area of Balochistan a few days ago after Marri tribe members and other people protested in Quetta and demanded the government recover the family.

Granaz, 50, and her seven children had been languishing in a private jail for years. Two of her sons were killed and their bodies were found along with a woman’s body earlier this month in a well in the Haji Kot area of Barkhan. Granaz and her five children were later rescued in separate raids and reunited with Mr Marri.

Granaz claimed that she was put in the private jail of Communication Works Minister Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran, who was arrested last week and is on a 10-day physical remand.

Rescued Barkhan woman, two sons narrate ordeal while years in captivity

“We were tortured badly and kept separately in small rooms,” she said. “My six sons were not allowed to meet me.”

Mr Marri had also been saying for the last two years that his wife and children were illegally detained, sexually abused and tortured by Mr Khetran and his men in the private jail in Barkhan since 2019.

Their 15-year-old son said in the video, “We spent most of the time in Barkhan. Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran brought us to Quetta in tight security and kept us in his house.”

He said the minister handed over some family members to a man who took them to Duki and kept them in a hideout. However, just before security officials raided the place and recovered them, the man who was keeping an eye on the family disappeared and left them alone.

Mr Marri’s other son, an 11-year-old, also narrated his story, recalling that they were forced to work for the minister and subjected to torture. “The brothers were kept in different rooms and were not allowed to meet our mother,” he said.

Police surgeon Ayesha Faiz, who conducted a medical examination of Granaz and her five children, has also confirmed that the family was subjected to torture in prison. She also said in her report that Granaz’s daughter was sexually abused.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2023