KASUR: The father of eight-year-old Zainab who was murdered after rape has claimed that actually he and his relatives had nabbed the suspected serial killer and handed him over to police, while investigators had failed to trace Imran.

Muhammad Amin made the claim at a press conference on Thursday in Road Kot locality, flanked by a lawyer, Aftab Ahmed Bajwa.

To substantiate his claim, Mr Amin referred to the picture showing the suspect sitting on a cot, claiming it was taken at the house of his (Amin’s) brother after “we seized him (Imran) and handed him over to police”.

“We had been insisting that Imran is the culprit since Jan 5, the day Zainab went missing, but police ignored us,” Mr Amin told journalists.

He said before the press conference of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in Lahore, law minister Rana Sanaullah had asked him (Amin) not to demand anything else except justice.

Mr Amin said he and his relatives got Imran picked twice but police released him on both occasions.

“Later, we had to ask Punjab police inspector general (IG) and the Joint Investigation Team head for the arrest of the suspect and then we nabbed him and handed him over to police,” the victim’s father claimed.

He also said the CCTV footage that showed the culprit was also obtained by Zainab’s relatives.

Lawyer Aftab Bajwa deplored that Rs10 million reward announced by the chief minister for the arrest of the culprit was being given to the JIT members, whereas it was actually the bereaved family who got the suspect arrested.

He said Mr Amin wanted to present his demands in the CM’s press conference but his mics were switched off.

Earlier in the day, Mr Amin presented his 11 demands at another press conference on behalf of ‘Action Committee For Zainab And Other Victims of Kasur’.

He demanded if the government had extended any kind of financial help to the family of Zainab or if the family had sought anything except justice, it must be made public.

It was demanded that the JIT report be made public.

Besides seeking a fair trial and public hanging of the culprit, he also demanded justice for other victims, naming of some university or children park after Zainab, appointment of honest and professional police officers in the district and concrete steps to check such incidents in future.

He said local parliamentarians be asked to provide “immediate relief” to all the victims’ families “to avoid any law and order situation in future.

Mr Amin threatened to stage a protest demonstration on Friday (today) if other suspects in the police custody were not released. He added that he would not join the investigations into the incident till the other suspects in custody were not released.

Police, after the arrest of Imran, had also picked four other suspects, including Qari Sohail Ahmed, for being alleged facilitators of the main culprit.

Meanwhile, Kasur DPO spokesperson Muhammad Sajid, told the local media through Whatsapp there was no other suspect in the police custody. In a late night development, the police released Qari Sohail Ahmad, who later told some reporters that during detention the police examined his mobile phone data and call record and grilled him about his links with the suspect.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2018