SAHIWAL: A landlord brutally tortured a young mason for refusing to do repair work at his house because of his busy schedule here on Wednesday at Machi Singh in Arifwala tehsil.

Qabola police have arrested main suspect Ismail who was booked under sections 365 and 336 of Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of mason Muhammad Shahzad’s brother Ijaz.

Reports said on the night of April 10, Shahzad was asleep in his brother’s house when landlord Ismail, Azam and three unknown men broke open the door and took away Shahzad to an outhouse where the suspects tortured him rods and sticks and damaged his right eye.

Later, on the intervention of locals, Shahzad was freed. The family shifted him to THQ Hospital for treatment where doctors confirmed that Shahzad’s had lost his right eye vision.

The family approached the police but for three weeks no case was registered against Ismail. Later, the Pakpattan DPO took notice of the incident when a video showing torture was uploaded on the social media.

Qabola police said they were raiding to arrest other suspects. Shahzad told the media that he was tortured because he refused to do repair work at Ismail’s house owing to his busy schedule.

FOUND DEAD: A 22-year-old youth was found hanged from a tree in nearby fields at village 26/SP, tehsil Pakpattan.

Locals spotted the body of the youngster [later identified as Awais] and informed Chak Badian police. Police are looking into the matter.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2023