QUETTA: Balochistan Minister for Construction and Communications Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran was arrested Wednesday over his alleged connection with the gruesome murder of three people while heirs of Barkhan incident’ victims continued their sit-in in Quetta for the second consecutive day, demanding justice.
The police said that Provincial Minister Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran was arrested as he was accused of murdering three people – a woman and her two sons.
Khan Muhammad Marri, the man whose three family members were murdered, has accused Khetran of keeping his five other family members in a “private jail”.
Late Tuesday night, the police had also raided the minister’s residence to recover Marri’s five children and sealed roads leading to Khetran’s house in Quetta’s Patel Bagh.
When the pressure grew on the police, they registered a case against unknown persons under Sections 34 (doing any act with intention of causing harm to any person), 202 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), and 302 (qatl-i-amd) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
‘Victim families continue sit-in’
On the other hand, the heirs of victims of Barkhan incident continued their sit-in in Quetta on Wednesday.
The heirs of the deceased appealed to the government that a case should be registered against Balochistan Minister for Communication and Works Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran.
They also demanded the government that five missing persons should be recovered immediately. They threatened to continue their sit-in till acceptance of their demand.
It was the second day of their protest sin-in wherein the protesters unveiled their six-point demands. They demanded suspension of provincial minister, besides his arrest. They further said a case should be registered against Abdul Rehman Khetran and the five missing persons should also be recovered.
The protesters further said that a judicial commission led by a Balochistan High Court judge should be constituted to probe the incident.
‘Balochistan CM directs IGP to recover ‘abducted’ family’
Earlier, Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo directed police to recover the abducted children of Khan Muhammad Marri from Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran’s private jail.
CM Bizenjo issued directives to the additional chief secretary home and IGP Balochistan for the recovery of abducted children and women.
The development came after Khetran’s son released the pictures of the ‘abducted children’ on social media. The pictures posted on Inam Khetran’s social media showed the children including the ones who had been killed and others who are reportedly alive.
The set of pictures showed the children working somewhere, whereas, a photo showed an abducted girl.
Inam Khetran said that the remaining children of Khan Muhammad Marri are still in the captivity of his father – the Balochistan minister Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran. He claimed that Marri’s elder daughter is currently present in a house in Barkhan and the son was present in a house in Quetta.
Earlier, police raided the minister’s house in the Patel Bagh area to recover the abducted five children of Khan Muhammad Marri. The police spokesperson said that women cops also took part in the raid.
During the raid, police searched the whole house including the guestroom.
The alliance of Marri tribes including the heirs of the victims staged a sit-in along with the bodies in the Red Zone of Quetta.
The sit-in of the Marri alliance is being led by its chairman Jahangir Marri. While talking to the media, Jahangir Marri said that several tribal people were allegedly kept in the private jails of the provincial minister Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran for four years.
Marri said that the police did not register FIR. He added that Khetran is part of the Balochistan government and they want to demand justice from the Centre. He announced that the sit-in will be continued until the provincial minister Khetran is not arrested.
Balochistan Home Department constituted a joint investigation team (JIT) under the supervision of DIG Loralai Division to probe into the cold-blooded murders in Barkhan.
The Balochistan Home Department appointed Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Loralai Division as the JIT chairman while other members include Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Investigation Quetta and the representative of the Special Branch Barkhan.
Three bullet-riddled bodies of a woman and her two sons were recovered from a well by police in Balochistan’s Barkhan district.
Police said that the slain woman was the wife of a citizen namely Khan Muhammad Marri and the other bodies were identified as her two sons.
Police detailed that all three victims were killed in the firing, whereas, the woman’s face was horribly distorted by pouring acid on it.
