Family wanted for Baldia ‘honour’ killing arrested in Islamabad

A family accused of murdering a man and injuring his brother in Karachi’s Baldia Town last month allegedly over honour have been arrested in Islamabad.

Pervez Khan was struck with sticks and bricks before being stabbed in a house at Hazara Chowk in Gulshan-e-Ghazi on February 15. His brother Shahzaib was also wounded during the incident. Khan, however, succumbed to his injuries during treatment at a hospital.

West Zone Investigation-I SSP Zeeshan Shafique Siddiqui told a news conference in Karachi on Saturday that an FIR of the incident was registered against Khan’s relatives at the Ittehad Town police station.

SSP Siddiqui said the family accused of the murder had escaped from the city, and all the members had also switched off their mobile phones.

Siddiqui formed an investigation team led by the Saeedabad DSP, the Ittehad Town station investigation officer and case investigating officer Anwar Shah Bukhari to arrest the family. He also ordered gathering the call detail records of the suspects.

Several raids were carried out, but the family kept on moving houses. “Police finally found a clue on March 18 that pointed them towards the family’s location in Islamabad,” said the SSP.

“The investigation team was then sent to Islamabad, where they arrested the family in the Sarai Faraal locality with the help of the Golra Sharif police.”

The police officer identified the suspects as Nawabzada Hashim, his wife Zartaj, and their sons Arif and Shahrukh. He said the family were presented before the Islamabad civil & judicial judge for a transit remand, which was granted to the investigation team until March 24.

SSP Siddiqui later told The News that the accused and Khan’s family were related. “On returning home one day, Arif had found Khan with his wife alone in the house.”

The accused family had planned to kill both Khan and Arif’s wife for so-called honour, but the woman managed to escape, added the police officer.

He said Khan’s autopsy report showed that the man’s lips were slit, adding that his body was riddled with bite marks as well as stab wounds.

It was reported last month that 30-year-old Pervez in Hazara Chowk, Gulshan-e-Ghazi, where his cousin Arif attacked Pervez and his brother Shahzaib with a knife and escaped after stabbing them.

Last month The News had reported that Khan was killed and his brother injured when their cousin attacked them in their house in Baldia Town over what police had speculated to be an extramarital affair.

According to Ittehad Town police station’s head moharir, the incident took place in the house of Khan at Hazara Chowk, where his cousin Arif attacked him and his brother Shahzaib with a knife and escaped.

The head moharir said the injured men were taken to the Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, where Khan succumbed to his wounds, while doctors declared Shahzaib safe.

He said the locals had told police that Khan had gone to Arif’s house when he was not around. When Arif returned, he saw Khan alone with his wife.

Quoting residents, the head moharir said Arif then thrashed Khan and threw him out of his house, adding that Arif later went to Khan’s house and attacked him with a knife, and when his younger brother tried to intervene, Arif stabbed him too.