FAISALABAD, March 2: A victim of alleged atrocities of police and politicians has threatened to end her life along with her nine children in front of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Speaking at a news conference at the District Bar Association on Thursday, Mst Nasreen Iqbal, along with National Council for Human Rights director Rao Zafar Iqbal advocate, revealed her ordeal.
She said she was leading a peaceful and ideal life along with children and ailing husband, Tariq Gujjar, at Chak 165-GB in Samundri tehsil. In the last week of September 2005, a young boy of the village, Waqas, entered her house along with Khalida, a young daughter of local villager Raja Muhammad Husain, to hide themselves from their chasing elders.
“We informed the area people about the presence of the eloped couple, who rushed to the spot and forced them to go back to their homes. Waqas threatened my entire family with dire consequences for not providing him shelter at my house and started harassing my children,” she said.
“On Oct 2 last year, Waqas entered my house along with some unknown persons and threatened to kill my family, besides taking away valuables.”
The matter was brought into the notice of the Samundri police but no action was taken against the youth because he had deep links with area politicians, including MPA Khalid Nabi advocate.
The woman said a formal complaint of the incident was lodged before the Faisalabad DIG on whose orders the Saddar Samundri police registered a case on Oct 14 under section 458 and 380 of PPC but the suspects were not rounded up.
She said the suspects got infuriated and attacked her house on Dec 17, disgraced her daughters, ransacked the house and set fire to household articles, besides resorting to aerial firing. “We saved our lives by jumping from the fire and luckily all children remained unhurt.”
The ensuing days were a nightmare for her, said she, as she left no stone unturned for the registration of case against the accused persons and their arrest but to no avail. The DIG, however, conducted an inquiry and ordered registration of a case against the culprits under section 136, 148, 149, 337-H2 and 457 of PPC on Dec 26.
She further said she had visited the offices of the police investigation officers of Samundri many times with her entreaty that the accused should be arrested forthwith because they were threatening the family with dire consequences. But the police had refused to make any arrest owing to pressure from the politicians of the area, she alleged.
She claimed that for the last four months her entire family was passing days and nights on railway station platforms, mosques and at open places as “they had been kicked off from their house by the accused” and none of the village notables was ready to provide them shelter.
HR activist Rao Zafar Iqbal said the sorry state of affairs could be judged from the fact that the Supreme Court, while moving on an application of the victim, ordered the police to provide protection to the family but the police had failed to comply with the instructions.