SHEIKHUPURA, Sept 29: An elderly man claims to have been running from pillar to post for the past 18 years to get justice, but the law enforcers have failed to help him against the influential accused.
He has threatened that he will commit self-immolation in front of the apex court if justice is not meted out to him.
Revealing his ordeal, Haji Muhammad Razzaq Bhatti, 70, told journalists at the Sheikhupura Press Club that two of his sons, Khalid Sarfraz Bhatti and Hamayun Khan Bhatti, were murdered by Abdul Quddus Bhatti, Abdul Rauf Bhatti and Abdul Qayyum Bhatti and their father Nawazishullah Bhatti (residents of Dubar Bhattian in Pindi Bhattian tehsil) at the behest of ruling PML MNA Mehdi Hassan Bhatti and his brother Liaquat Bhatti, also an MNA, in 1987 over a trivial issue.
He said the only mistake he committed was submission of tender of sewerage work against Liaquat Bhatti’s favorite contractor and his close relative, Abdul Rauf Bhatti. He said Liaquat became infuriated and tore the tender form, besides torturing him and threatening him with dire consequences.
Just two days later, he said, contractor Rauf, along with Abdul Quddus and Abdul Qayyum, and their father Nawazishullah, with the connivance of the political figures killed his sons Khalid and Hamayun.
He said the Sukhekey police station registered a double murder case against the suspects, but the doors of justice were shut for him thereafter.
The old man with tearful eyes told newsmen that the police had not challaned Mehdi Hassan and his brother Liaquat because of their political influence. Not even other accused had been proceeded against, he said, adding rather they were absolved of the crime by the police.
Abdul Quddus, Abdul Qayyum, Abdul Rauf and Nawazishullah have been set at liberty by a court, said the aggrieved father. To exact revenge, he said his relative Muhammad Aslam Bhatti, a resident of Meloana area, killed Saud who was an associate of Mehdi Bhatti.
“However, a case was registered against me, my brother Muhammad Zafar Bhatti and nephews — Najmul Hassan, Muhammad Aslam — besides two sons Ulfat Husain and Muhammad Arshad with the Sukhekey police station.
Succumbing to pressure, he said, the police also nominated him and his son, Arshad, in the FIR in Saud’s murder case. He alleged that the influential group also poisoned his brother-in-law Muhammad Aslam Bhatti to death in Gujranwala.
According to Haji Razzaq, Arshad had been awarded death sentence and was in prison while Ulfat was kidnapped and his fate was not known, expressing apprehensions that he might have been killed. He said he had filed a writ petition with the Lahore High Court on Sept 16 for the recovery of his son and the court directed the SSP (operations) of Lahore to produce Ulfat.
SSP Amir Zulfiqar recorded the statements of Ulfat’s mother — the petitioner — and the accused on Sept 21 and Sept 24. The petitioner said her son, Ulfat Husain, was called on Sept 4 by Sumera Hayat alias Sadia, daughter of Muhammad Hayat Lali of New Pir Colony in Sargodha, at the Lahore residence of Punjab Culture Minister Shaukat Ali Bhatti.
She said Ulfat had no idea that the caller belonged to his rival group and on reaching there he was roped and taken to an unknown place. She said the family had no clue to his whereabouts.
Haji Razzaq has appealed to the president, the prime minister and the chief justices of the Supreme and high courts to save them from further distress and penalize the culprits.
MNA Mehdi Hassan and his son Shaukat Bhatti, however, deny the charges. They told this correspondent that the petitioners were casting a slur on their reputation at the behest of their political rivals.