Zainab’s ‘killer’ nabbed

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Tuesday announced the arrest of minor Zainab’s killer. He called him a ‘serial killer’, who had allegedly confessed to all his crimes.

The CM identified the killer as Mohammad Imran, a 24-year-old resident of Kasur. Speaking at a press conference, held at the Model Town CM Secretariat, Shahbaz said the killer had been caught after 14 days of relentless efforts of civilian and military authorities, intelligence agencies, the exhaustive work done by state-of-the-art Punjab Forensic Lab under the Punjab Forensic Science Agency, civil administration, political leadership and the media.

With the father of the deceased Zainab sitting by his side, the CM said that it was not easy to face this father who was robbed off his beautiful daughter. “But God has enabled us to bring the monster to justice,” he added.

Shahbaz congratulated Punjab's cabinet committee, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, IGP Punjab, additional chief secretary, chief secretary, and other officials including the Military Intelligence (MI) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on achieving the success of arrest of the killer.

The chief minister requested the head of the joint investigation team (JIT), Multan regional police officer, officers of the police, Intelligence Bureau, Inter-Services Intelligence, Special Branch and others to stand up and be appreciated for their unyielding efforts that led to the arrest of the culprit. Pointing at them, he said those were the gems and the heroes of the nation.

"I am most thankful to DG Forensic Lab, who profiled 1,150 DNAs to find the killer," the CM said. He said that he had been personally involved with the progress made on this case on hourly basis.

Shahbaz said he was informed about the development Monday night but he did not want to make the results public unless all doubts were ruled out. The DG Forensic Laboratory, while explaining the process during the press conference, said that the possibility of the DNA test being erroneous is one in 178 quadrillion, which certainly means that Imran is the killer of all these girls.

The CM said that with the arrest of the culprit, the first phase has been completed. For the second phase, the prosecution of the murderer, he requested the courts to conduct hearing on daily basis.

He said that Zainab’s father and even the CM himself wanted the culprit to be publicly hanged, but everyone would need to respect whatever the law of the land would decide. He said that we should go for it if there was need for amending the laws. The way Zainab, a flower, was crushed, the law should crush the killer in the same way, he added.

He said that politicising of the issue was sad and disappointing, and he did not believe in such behaviour. The CM said that the current tragic incident and every other such crime is not a problem of a province or a political party, but that of the entire country and he would be most humbled to extend the forensic expertise and the legal lessons learnt to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa or any other province to help solve Asma murder case or any other similar case. The victim's father expressed his contentment with the proceedings of the case in the press conference. He said the joint efforts of the government officials had helped in catching the criminal, who had murdered his daughter.

"I thank DIG ISI, MI, CTD, other agencies, and the forensic lab for their combined efforts and all my acquaintances for their help," said Zainab's father. "He [Imran] was traced due to joint efforts.

“I was in Saudi Arabia when I came to know that my daughter was missing," he said. "When I reached home, I appealed to the chief of army staff and chief justice of Pakistan.

“I had reservations regarding the case's proceedings earlier, but the joint investigation team (JIT) worked [and delivered results], and I am thankful to all people involved."  

Geo News report adds: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said: "Zainab's murderer, Mohammad Imran, is a 24-year-old resident of Kasur... he is a serial killer."

Shahbaz said the case would be prosecuted in an anti-terrorism court (ATC), and assured that all legal formalities would be completed.

M Saleemur Rahman adds: Police and security agencies on Tuesday arrested a man who had allegedly raped and killed seven-year-old Zainab.

Zainab was kidnapped from near her aunt’s house on January 4 in Kasur. Her body was recovered from a garbage heap on January 9. The post-mortem of the minor revealed that she had been raped before being murdered.

The accused is a resident of Kot Road, which is situated some 200 metres away from Zainab’s home while the place where the body of minor Zainab was recovered is 300 metres away from the residence of the accused.

Imran, familiar with Zainab’s family and a frequent visitor, was arrested Tuesday morning from his house while some reports stated that he had been taken into custody from Pakpattan. Sources said the police had arrested the accused earlier also but released him due to the posed epileptic stress. The accused wore a beard when he committed the crime, but later shaved off in an attempt to hide his identity. The accused also participated in the protests against Zainab’s murder.

The agencies were informed by a barber of the area during investigations that accused Imran shaved his beard a few days after the incident.

Meanwhile, the people gathered outside the house of the accused and tried to set it on fire. However, heavy contingent of police reached the scene and cordoned off the area. The police shifted the family of the accused to an undisclosed place to save them from the anger of people. The accused has seven brothers and sisters and his father died two months ago due to prolonged illness. The locals said the accused used to stay aloof. Some members of the accused family had also been members of a dancing party, while the accused often participated in Na’at programmes.

The police also arrested four other persons on the information provided by the accused. An investigation officer said that the accused took a long way to take Zainab to the place of crime, instead of a short route on which his own house was situated.

The Punjab government spokesperson Malik Ahmed Khan said the accused had been arrested from near Pakpattan. He said the circumstantial evidence pointed towards Imran’s involvement in the case.

Zainab’s sister Laiba spoke to Geo News, and said if Imran was the real murderer then he should be publicly hanged. The sister said that the suspect should be given an exemplary punishment. She said he used to get possessed by djinns. If that was the case, then he should be given a befitting punishment to be exorcised, she added.

Zainab’s brother, Abu Bakar said that the culprit should be given an exemplary sentence so that others like him get a message. Also, forensic specialists on Tuesday confirmed that the DNA sample from accused Imran matched the sample found from Zainab's body, as well as the samples taken from seven other minor girls, who were abused and murdered earlier in the area.

Nawaz Sharif, meanwhile, issued a brief message wherein he commended Punjab Police and Shahbaz Sharif on nabbing the killer of Zainab. Well done, Shahbaz Sharif and the Punjab Police, said the former premier.