MULTAN: A model court in Multan on Friday sentenced slain model Qandeel Baloch’s brother Wasim Khan to life in prison for murdering his sister. Six including Mufti Abdul Qavi, Qandeel’s other two brothers, Aslam Shaheen and Arif were acquitted in the case.
In 2016, Qandeel Baloch was strangled to death at her home in Punjab by her brother Waseem. Her father Muhammad Azeem Baloch had lodged a murder case against his son Waseem, accomplices Haq Nawaz and others. An affidavit submitted by the parents in 2016 also named two of other sons, Aslam Shaheen and Arif.
Waseem had gone on record and admitted to drugging and killing his sister when he was presented before a special magistrate.
In an affidavit submitted on August 21, the parents said they had forgiven their sons, urging the court to acquit them.
The Police have arrested a suspect believed to be linked to the string of child murders in the Chunian area of Kasur.
The man, named Shehzad, came to the notice of the police when his brother filed a missing person’s report on September 22. According to the police complaint, Shehzad took the family’s tractor to the market in the Chunian area and then disappeared.
Police used Shehzad’s four mobile numbers to trace his location. After finding him in Rahim Yar Khan district, he was arrested and brought to Kasur for DNA testing.
Those privy to developments within the police circles tell Geo.tv, on the condition of anonymity, that they suspect Shehzad may be behind the killing of four children, the first of whom went missing in June. Bodies of three of the children were found near a garbage heap earlier this month.
One reason for linking Shehzad to the crime, says officials, is that when the police searched for his phone’s location, in the past few days, one of his numbers was found to be in the area from where a boy, Faizan, went missing.
However, the newly-appointed district police officer (DPO) Kasur, Zahid Nawaz Marwat, said it was too early to pin the blame. “The investigation is continuing,” he told the media, “Several suspects have been picked up and questioned so far. As for Shehzad, he is also one of such suspects. He is not yet an accused yet. We will have to wait for the DNA test results.”
On September 17, police in Kasur found the body of eight-year-old Faizan and the remains of two other children, who went missing in the last few months. A medical report later confirmed that Faizan had been sexually assaulted before being killed. Police are now on the hunt for the killer. In the past few days, over 500 men, aged between 18-40 years, have been called in for DNA testing.
An affidavit submitted in court further stated Qandeel’s murder case was registered on July 16, 2016, while the change to the Anti-Honour Killing Laws which prevents killers from walking free after a pardon was made three months later. Thus, it was not applicable in this murder case.
The new legislation made it mandatory for those convicted to serve at least 12 years in jail and made the state a plaintiff in cases.
The court on August 22, had rejected the appeal of slain model’s parents to pardon their sons for her murder.
During proceedings, Qandeel’s parents informed the court that they were only pardoning their sons and not others accused in the case, Mufti Abdul Qavi, Haq Nawaz, Abdul Basit and Zafar.
Baloch’s parents had earlier refused to pardon their sons for killing her and had called for capital punishment in the case. Her father had said that he would be happy if his son and the three other accused were “hanged for their unforgivable crime”.(INP)
