Did we catch the right man in Zainab’s
murder?
Some people feel that the
man who can be seen in the CCTV footage appears to be different from the
profile of the suspect, Imran Ali.
After
weeks of hoping, praying and demanding justice, we have finally been presented
with a man being deemed the
main culprit in
the Zainab rape case. However, in light of all the information that was
revealed to us earlier, along with the hurried nature of this capture, I
remain unconvinced that Imran Ali Arshad is the man who not only raped and
killed Zainab, but also seven
other little girls since 2015.
What is certain is that
if the Supreme Court (SC) had not ordered the police to find the killer within 72 hours,
the police would never have acted so. Knowing the way our police functions,
even if they had caught the real culprit, his release would probably have been
secured in exchange for money. Naturally, given the way events have unfolded, I
am not alone in being doubtful of the results.
Zainab murderer arrested
i am still doubtful is he real culprit or fake criminal by punjab police like
fake encounters
to defuse this case and to stop media coverage #ZainabMurderCase
"Imran is said to be
a relative of the deceased." Why didn't the family recognise him through
CCTV footage? Also, the suspects DNA matched that found on ten other girls who
were raped and killed. #Zainab
The Supreme Court gave
the Punjab police 3 days to arrest Zainab's killer - with the deadline running
out soon they said today that they have arrested a 23 year old man who lives in
her neighbourhood and that he confessed - his name is Imran Arshad pic.twitter.com/p3lvodpkaN
He looks nowhere even
close to the killer captured on CCTV camera. I think they have tortured him
into confessing.
Some
people feel that the man who can be seen in the CCTV footage appears to be
different from the profile of the suspect arrested. Others wonder if he was a
neighbour, why wasn’t he investigated earlier? There are conflicting reports in
this regard, with some suggesting that Zainab’s family had told the police that
Imran was someone they trusted, who also frequently visited their home and also
participated in the protests held against Zainab’s murder, which is why he was
let go by the officials in the first place.
Zainab's suspected killer
and rapist Imran Arshad was not only a neighbour but was known to her & her
family -- would visit her house and several times she would go accompanied by
him: police
According to the neighbours, the police did ask Imran to go with
them for questioning, but he started frothing at the mouth and had a fainting
episode, while his mother screamed that a pious, God-fearing person like him
could never be a rapist or a killer. The neighbours also intervened, claiming
that Imran was a deeply religious man who recited naats and
offered prayers regularly. Thus, at the time, the police had “no option” but to
free him. In fact, in pictures taken during Zainab’s funeral, Imran can be
seen a few feet away from Dr Tahirul Qadri.
It appears that Zainab's suspected killer
Imran Arshad was also present at her funeral
Intelligence agencies
confirm that Zainab's serial rapist and killer Imran Ali Naqshbani was involved
in attacking parliament building during 2014 dherna, was bodyguard of Dr Qadri,
led PAT & PTI workers to attack police, hes a trained militant
To rub salt on our
wounds, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Shehbaz Sharif,
addressed a press conference in which he took all credit for solving the case.
He also couldn’t resist reminding the nation about the case of Asma, a
little girl from Mardan who met a fate similar to that of Zainab and whose case
remains unsolved. He seemed to be insinuating that just because the Punjab
police “succeeded” in solving Zainab’s case, while the police in
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) remain in the dark, somehow the Punjab government is
better than the one in K-P. At this point, one can only remind him that Punjab
has been in his control for the past 10 years, yet neither its police nor its government did anything
when the first rape and murder of a little girl was reported two years ago, nor
when the Kasur scandal broke
out in 2015.
In
fact, in my opinion, Shehbaz is equally responsible for the ensuing deaths of
seven innocent little girls, because his policemen did not do what they are
paid to do, but were instead used mainly for the protection of the chief
minister and his cronies.
This is a really awful
time to take "credit" for things @CMShehbaz. Little children were raped and
murdered on your watch. You caught a murderer but instead of fanfaring abt how
great you are, take steps on never letting this happen again. Zainab's death
was a collective failure.
Furthermore,
whether or not Imran is the real killer, the police are also responsible for
the rape and murders which this man is alleged to have committed. The court
should order the punishment of all those police officers who failed to take
action after the first rape was reported in 2015. The punishment should also
fit the crime, and not involve mere suspension or being posted as officer on
“special duty”, which is what is usually done whenever a policeman is found to
be negligent; case in point: Rao Anwar.
We know that our ruling
politicians appoint unqualified and unsuitable persons from their home towns to
work as policemen, particularly in Karachi, where several extrajudicial
incidents have taken place, including one in which the cops killed
four young men in cold blood. They act as if they are above the
law – perhaps because in this country, they are – and would never be held
accountable for such fake “encounters”. Their leader, Anwar, was caught trying
to escape to Dubai after killing an innocent man, Naqeebullah Mehsud.
Anwar is reportedly a
favourite of those who rule over the unfortunate province of Sindh, and has
been suspended several times in the past, only to be re-instated again.
Naturally, with such powerful people backing him, Anwar has supervised the
killing of about 300 people, claiming that they were militants. In light
of these new developments, the court should investigate all these murders and
determine how many of the victims were actually innocent.
Just a few months ago,
there emerged another case of a “fake
encounter”, as video footage showed Faisalabad police pumping
bullets into a man called Asif Sardar. Even though he had surrendered and posed
no apparent threat, the police later claimed he had opened fire at them first.
An investigation conducted last year of 20 police encounters determined that in
six such encounters, the police had misused law and had exceeded their powers. Things
have become so bad that the common man is now dreadfully afraid of the police.
Most people who have been held up, a very common experience for those who live
in Karachi, are too scared to go to a police station to report the crime. They
fear that they will either be robbed by the cops in exchange for their freedom,
or made to forcibly confess to having killed someone or robbed a bank.
As for
Zainab’s alleged killer, he has already been presumed guilty, after being
condemned by the chief minister of the province. Given the state of our police,
and after such extensive media coverage, especially after Shehbaz’s press
conference, the accused is unlikely to get a fair trial.
Thus,
if Imran is shot dead in an “encounter” while allegedly trying to escape, or if
he ends up committing suicide before his trial, we should not and cannot be
blamed for suspecting that the real killer is someone who is still out there,
while Imran is presented to us as a scapegoat. No matter what happens, however,
Shehbaz should be made to realise that due to his inaction in the past,
ultimately he, too, bears responsibility for the brutal murder of the eight
little girls in Kasur.
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