Women trafficking case: Main character arrested after SC suo moto

ISLAMABAD: In a major breakthrough, the Police have arrested Mukhtar, main character of the gang reportedly involved in women trafficking, sex slavery and fake marriages within 24 hours after the Supreme Court of Pakistan took suo moto notice.

The FIR of kidnapping of Farzana and then smuggling her to Afghanistan was registered on January 1, 2017 but police investigation made no progress in the case. This was after the Supreme Court suo moto notice that the police arrested him within 24 hours.

City Police Officer (CPO) Israr Ahmad Khan Abbasi, while talking to The News on Saturday, confirmed the arrest of Mukhtar and said the hunt for the rest of the gang members is continued. 

According to the CPO, during the initial investigation, Mukhtar has revealed that Muhammad Arshad (husband of Farzana) was also part of the gang and he sold her wife for a contract marriage to an Afghan national. 

The police is narrating the same what Haji, a gang member in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told The News that Arshad sold her wife willingly. Haji also claimed that the police were well aware of the activities of this gang. Police denied the charge.

Talking to The News, Muhammad Arshad once again claimed that the gang members are leveling false allegations against him. 

“Mukhtar is lying as he hasn’t met me since the day he took my wife for showing the match for their relatives. I would have got him arrested the very day he had met me. They are trying to blackmail me so that I may not actively pursue the case of my wife’s abduction,” commented Arshad.

In order to verify and check the background of Arshad whether he has sold his wife or she was abducted by this gang, this scribe has talked to a contractor with whom he has worked for almost five years. This scribe has also talked to Arshad’s neighbours and his coworkers who have known him for the last eight years.

Muhammad Shaukat, a contractor by profession with whom Arshad worked for almost five years, said, “I know Arshad for the last five years but I never received any complaint against him. He has been very honest and punctual during this period. When his wife was abducted, he sought my help. How could a person pursue the abduction of his wife so actively if he himself has sold her wife”, asked Shaukat.

Arshad’s neighbours also claimed they have never found him or his wife involved in any dubious activities. 

Muhammad Jahangir, a coworker of Arshed, told The News that he has been working with him for the last eight years and knows him and his family personally as they are living in the same location. 

“The entire colony will speak for Chacha (Arshad) as he has never been involved in any dubious or illegal activity. He is very poor and at times he had no money to pay rent for his house as he worked as a daily wager. But whenever he found work he paid every single penny to those from whom he borrowed money. He was already falsely involved in a case by an influential person and gone through worst experience as his son got injured in cross firing by the son of the influential person. Neither Farzana nor Arshad have ever been found involved in any illegal activity”, commented Muhammad Jahangir.

Asif Ali, a neighbour of Arshed told The News that they know him for the last seven years and they could say it on oath that he could never do any such thing i.e. selling his wife. This family has passed through very hard times and hopefully the Supreme Court would do justice with them, he said.