LAHORE - Hundreds of people took to streets and blocked Airport Road on Monday to protest against non-arrest of the prime suspects of teen murder.
Angry protesters also chanted slogans against the police for backing the killers, demanding the Punjab government to bring the culprits to justice. The protesters, mostly residents of Askari-10, also staged a sit-in outside the housing society after closing down all its entries. The protest also caused worst traffic mess in the entire locality since no vehicle was being allowed to leave or enter the Askari-10 premises.
Syed Mohammed Murtaza was brutally tortured by several men during a street fight in Askari-10 on February 8. After battling for life for four days at the Lahore Combined Military Hospital, the student of Lahore Grammar School (LGS), Murtaza, expired on the hospital bed on Wednesday.
The protesters said that the police investigators were backing the influential killers instead of bringing them to justice. “They (alleged killers) are roaming freely in the area but the police are unable to arrest them. The police are backing the killers,” says Ahmed while protesting against the gruesome killing outside Askari-10.
Another protester said that the police officers were not taking the murder case as seriously as required notwithstanding the clear-cut instructions of the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
Later, SP Cantonment along with heavy police contingents reached the spot and managed to disperse the protesters after holding a series of negotiations with them. The SP assured the victim family that the police were conducting raids to nab the killers.
According to police, the murder case has been handed over to the CIA police for further interrogation. A police official said that the Punjab IGP has ordered the Lahore police to ensure the arrests of the killers and their accomplices.
Meanwhile, a police spokesperson said that Lahore CCPO Amin Wains and SSP Investigation Ayyaz Saleem visited the house of the victim family on Monday evening. They assured the family that all the culprits involved in the murder of a teenage boy would not be spared. The police officers claimed that the accused persons nominated in the FIR has been arrested while their accomplices would also be arrested.
Earlier, the police registered a murder case against six men including two students of FC College. The alleged killers nominated in the FIR are Hamayun Sajad, his brother Raza Sajad, Ameer Abdullah, Ali Shah Jahan, Zulfikar Ali, and Irfan Iqbal.
According to Mujtaba, his brother went to A-block market for shopping where he saw his friends Saif, Shezada, Sarmad and Salaar fighting with Humayun, Raza, Ameer Abdullah, Ali Shah Jahan, Irfan, Zulfikar and some other unknown people. Murtaza intervened and tried to stop the fight but the culprits started beating him mercilessly with rods and a wiper. One of them hit the wiper on Murtaza’s head which fractured his skull.
He then fell on the ground and lost consciousness while the culprits continued beating him. After witnessing Murtaza lying in a pool of blood, the attackers fled the crime scene.