LONDON: The family of an assassinated couple from Lahore have appealed to the Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi to help catch the culprits who killed their parents on 9th May 2021 in Lahore’s Sebzazaar and remain unknown and untraced.
Syed Anees-ud-Din, 70, and his wife Nasira Bibi, 60, were killed by unknown assassins in the late evening of 9th May at their home and the family have complained that the Lahore police has done nothing to catch the killers despite the fact that the family provided CCTV footage of a suspicious car from the locality.
Syed Ali Junaid and Syed Umair, who live and work in London as security consultants, informed The News and Geo about the happenings of that evening when they last heard from their parents. Syed Anees-ud-Din was speaking on a cell phone to his daughter-in-law in London when someone knocked at the main entrance of his three-storey house and Syed Anees ended the call to answer the caller at the gate. The family in London never heard from their parents again as they were killed, presumably by the same person(s) who entered the home after Anees-ud-Din opened the door. It was on the following day on the 10th of May 2021 when a cousin of Junaid and Umair called them in London to inform them their parents were murdered in cold blood overnight. Syed Anees’s first wife had died in 2008 and he got married to Nasira Bibi in 2010. According to Syed Ali Junaid and Umair, their sister, who lives in Lahore, registered the FIR at Sabzazaar Police Station. Initially, the investigation was handled by Sub-inspector Mansab Ali, but on Junaid’s request, it was transferred to the CIA’s ASP Raiwind Shoaib Memon.
Junaid also said that his communication with the police hit a snag when the police officers saw his vigilant attitude as disrespectful. The case was then transferred to the CIA Model Town under the investigation of Inspector Zaheer-ud-Din Babar.
Junaid and Hussain told this reporter that their biggest grievance is that the police at one stage blamed them for the delay in the investigation. They said that the police, despite the passage of over a year, have been asking them the same questions again and again as every new case officer starts afresh. They said the police didn’t attempt to neither retrieve CCTV footage nor the Call Data Record or the geo-fencing results were obtained, they charged. They said the police told them they would obtain the forensic evidence but didn’t do anything.
They also met the former Punjab Governor Chaudhary Sawar around six months ago in London and the police started taking interest in the case but went quiet within a few days. The sons have appealed to the Punjab Chief Minister to look into their case and ask the police to hold a comprehensive investigation.
Speaking to The News, the current case inspector Zaheer-ud-Din Babar raised several issues in the investigation. He said the police had done their best but the family of Nasira Bibi had flatly refused to cooperate. He said: “To us, it looks like a murder committed by someone from the family. OSne of the victim’s family members was not only reluctant but also used pressure on the police not to approach them. The family has the phone data of the couple’s last conversations but that has not been handed over to us till now.”
Inspector Babar said a day before the murder, Nasira Bibi had told the maid that they were expecting some guests and the only people who knew about the guests are family members of the couple. The police officer said: “The family is not sharing any information with us. Also during Ramadan, Syed Anees-ud-Din’s daughter came to stay with her parents for a week and during that week a male guest visited the family and stayed there for several hours. We are looking for that person as he can help us with key information.” The inspector added: “I was tasked to work on this case after one-and-a-half-years of the killings. I have done my best but I want the families to cooperate with us.”
Family members of Syed Anees and Nasira Bibi said the police have the right to make arrests and investigate if they suspect anyone. “To blame the family members for not cooperating is an excuse which has gone on for too long. We want the Punjab Chief Minister to take notice and help us.”