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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Family of prisoner stoned to death in Indian jail demands his body

By Zia Ur Rehman
February 22, 2019

A man claiming to be the brother of the Pakistani prisoner who was stoned to death in an Indian jail demanded outside the Karachi Press Club on Thursday that his body be sent back to his home country for his funeral and burial.

Indian media outlets citing prison officials claimed on Wednesday that Shakir Ullah, a Pakistani convict serving a 20-year term in Rajasthan state’s Jaipur Central Jail, was killed by other inmates after a fight.

Shahzad Khan, the deceased’s brother, held a protest outside the Karachi Press Club along with other relatives, saying that Shakir Ullah belonged to Sialkot district and was arrested some 16 years ago.

Suffering from mental disabilities, Shakir Ullah crossed the border by mistake in 2003 and was wrongfully detained by the Indian authorities, said his brother. He demanded that the Pakistani government initiate talks with the Indian government for the handing over of his brother’s body for his funeral and burial.

“Shakir Ullah was killed because he was Pakistani. I urge the international justice courts to take notice of his murder,” Khan told The News on Thursday.

He said that during the past 16 years, the family was not given consular access to Shakir Ullah in the Indian jail.

He added that they belong to the Christian faith, but his brother Shakir Ullah had converted to Islam. The Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi has raised the issue with the Indian authorities, according to the Foreign Office.

“Pakistan is gravely concerned at media reports regarding the brutal killing of a Pakistani prisoner, Shakir Ullah, imprisoned in the Jaipur Central Jail. He was beaten to death by a group of Indian inmates in retaliation of the Pulwama incident,” read the FO statement.