SUKKUR: A large number of men, women and children staged a protest on Wednesday over the murder of a couple in Kotdiji tehsil of Khairpur district.

According to reports reaching here, residents of the Alam Khan Gopang village, falling within the limits of Shah Latif police station, carried the body of a woman identified as Fozia Gopang and protested against her brother-in-law and his accomplices who allegedly tortured and shot Fozia and her husband Mir Muhammad Gopang dead last night in Kotdiji.

The demonstrators, including Niaz Gopang, Zeenat Lala, Parvezan, Mor, Aftab, and Parvez Gopang, told reporters that 12 years ago, they had married Fozia to Mir Muhammad Gopang, a resident of the Murad Khan Gopang village in Kotdiji.

They said that last night armed persons had shot dead the couple who had four children, two sons and two daughters.

The protesters claimed that Fozia’s brother-in-law Khaiber, along with his accomplices Amir, Gullan, Safar, Asif and others, severely tortured the couple and shot them dead.

They said they received the information about the murders on phone on Wednesday morning.

They said the relatives reached the Murad Khan Gopang village and shifted the woman’s body to their village of Alam Khan Gopang.

When the family asked for the custody of victims’ children, the accused party flatly refused and disallowed them to meet Fozia’s children, they said.

When they went to the Kotdiji police station, police officials scolded and expelled them from the police station instead of registering their complaint, they said.

They appealed to the Sindh IGP, DIG, SSPs of Sukkur and Khairpur, and other relevant authorities to take notice of the incident, arrest the killers and provide protection and justice to the aggrieved family.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2025