Murder of three people in private jail of provincial minister: a slap on face of state

In Balochistan’s Barkhan area, matter of dead bodies of three people started to get more confused, sit-in of the relatives continued in front of the Chief Minister’s House for second day, the accusation of murder on Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran, demand to arrest the provincial minister started gaining strength. Balochistan government has constituted a JIT for investigation, committee will submit its report in 30 days.

A tribal jirga has been convened today to discuss the Barkhan incident. In order to recover the other five children of Khan Muhammad Marri, the house of provincial minister Sardar Abdul Rahman Khetran has been raided by a heavy force of police. During the raid, the guest room and other parts of the house were also searched.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sardar Abdul Qudous Bizenjo has directed the safe recovery of the abductee and the arrest of the accused involved.

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On the other hand, Adal Rahman Khetran’s son has released the pictures of the children imprisoned in the private penitentiary on social media. Inam Khetran has claimed that one daughter of Khan Muhammad Marri is in the Barkhan family while the other four sons are in the Quetta family.

“These are the dead bodies of my wife and two sons who were kept in a private jail in Hajikot for the last four years,” said Khan Mohammad Marri. The bodies have been identified as 40-year-old Granaz, 22-year-old Muhammad Anwar and 15-year-old Abdul Qadir.

Khan Muhammad Marri has served as the security guard of Provincial Minister Abdul Rahman Khetran. He has alleged that his wife and sons are kept in Sardar Khetran’s private jail, adding that five more of his children are in Khetran’s private jail, including a 13-year-old daughter.

On the other hand, Sardar Abdul Rahman Khetran denied this allegation and called it a conspiracy against him. Sardar Khetran says that this conspiracy is an attempt to discredit him as the tribal head of the Khetran tribe and to remove him from the leadership of the tribe.

Sardar Khetran said that the bodies were found one and a half kilometers away from his native village while he was not even in Barkhan and had been in Quetta for more than a week.

Sardar Khetran says that the conspiracy that has been prepared against me and the video that has been made and shared on social media includes my son Inam Shah Khetran. He said that when elections are near, such allegations are always made against him.

According to a PPI report, the relatives of three people who were allegedly killed after being detained in Barkhan’s private prison have been protesting with their bodies outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office since Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Abdul Rahman Khetran’s son Inam Shah has denied his father’s allegations and confirmed that the three persons whose bodies were recovered from the well were kept in his father’s “private jail”.

Late on Tuesday night, a heavy contingent of police and security forces led by SSP Muhammad Asif surrounded Sardar Khetran’s bungalow and guest house in Patel Bagh area and searched along with women police personnel.

According to the police, every room, basement and guest house were searched during the raid. However, it was stated in the press conference that no suspicious items were recovered during the raid. Sardar Abdul Rahman Khetran was also not present during the search operation.

Discovery and protest

The presence of the three bodies in the well was reported to the authorities by local people, after which Levies officials and other security personnel reached the spot and removed the bodies from the well.

Police say that unknown persons killed the mother and her two sons and dumped the bodies in a deep well. Hospital officials in Kohlu, after examining the bodies, said the bodies had bullet wounds in their skulls and signs of torture, indicating the cause of death.

The hospital administration said that the hands and feet of the murdered persons were tied with ropes while the face of the woman was crushed.

After the shocking revelation, the relatives of the deceased reached Kohlu with the bodies where hundreds of people offered their funeral prayers. Later, hundreds of Murri tribe members arrived in Quetta with the coffins in a big procession.

Arriving in the red zone of Quetta, the protesters announced that they will not end their demonstration or bury the bodies until Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif meets them and announces the arrest of the accused.

Echo in assembly

Meanwhile, the matter echoed in the Balochistan Assembly, where the finance minister and opposition members strongly condemned the brutal killing of the woman and her two sons.

Speaking on the point of order, Mir Arif Jan Mohammad Hosni termed it as an inhuman act, he said that it is also against our religion and tribal customs.

Education Minister Mir Naseebullah Marri walked out of the House and demanded the arrest of those involved in this barbaric act.

Mir Naseebullah Marri said that no one took notice and did not help the woman, who through a video requested the government and the society to save her life, while the woman was holding the Holy Quran in her hand. He said that we are all responsible for this tragedy because we remained silent on his request.

He said that all steps should be taken to arrest the people involved in the incident. He also demanded immediate steps to recover the remaining five children of Khan Muhammad Marri who are still in private jail and requested the Chief Justice of Balochistan to take notice of the incident.

The Home Minister told the House that a 5-member JIT has been constituted under the chairmanship of DIG Loralai which will submit its report within 30 days.