The most shocking stories of 2021

The year 2021 had an ugly side too. From mass murders in Pakistan’s mountains to mob lynching and a grisly beheading, were just some of the incidents which shook us to our core.

As we move to 2022, we hope and pray that the families of the victims receive justice.

But to close this year, here is the roundup of the most alarming crimes reported in 2021 in the country:

Noor Mukadam's murder 

On July 20, Noor Mukadam, 27-year-old daughter of a former Pakistani diplomat, was tortured and decapitated in an upscale area of the federal capital.

A man named Zahir Jaffer has been accused of the murder. The gruesome incident sparked a nationwide campaign seeking justice for the victims, as the hashtag #JusticeforNoor became a top trend on Twitter.

On October 14, the prime suspect, Jaffer, was formally charged for the crime by an Islamabad court.

11 coal miners kidnapped, killed in Balochistan

2021 began with the brutal murder of 11 coal miners in Balochistan. On January 3, armed men took the poor laborers to a nearby mountain where they were shot dead in cold-blood.

Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the incident, referring to it as a "cowardly inhumane act of terrorism" and promised the families of the victims that they will not be left abandoned by the government.

TikToker assaulted by hundreds of men

In yet another terrifying episode of violence against women, Ayesha Akram, a woman TikToker, was assaulted by hundreds of men on Independence Day at a public park.

The incident came to light after a video went viral on social media, showing men groping, beating and tearing the clothes of the young woman. The then-Inspector General Punjab took immediate notice of the incident and registered a case against 400 people on the complaint of the woman. Later, a magistrate court released 98 men, as they were not identified by Akram, while six were handed over to the police for investigation.

The court proceedings are still ongoing.

Unidentified men dig up girl's grave, rape corpse

On August 14, unidentified men in a village in Thatta, Sindh, dug up a 14-year-old girl's grave and raped the corpse. The teenager has died of natural causes.

Residents informed police after they came across the dead body lying outside the grave.

Man who filmed hunting of houbara bustards found dead

On November 3, a man who had posted a video on social media of a Pakistan People’s Party MPA’s foreign guest, hunting houbara bustard in Thatta district, was found dead.

Nazim Jokhio had stopped a car with a foreign registration number plate and asked the people sitting inside the vehicle to stop hunting the birds illegally.

A few days after posting the video online, the police recovered Nazim Jokhio’s dead body. His family accuse Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MPA Jam Awais of having Nazim Jokhio’s killed, who the family say called Jokhio to his house and subjected him to severe torture.

The police have registered a murder case against MPA Jam Awais and others.

Sri Lankan factory manager lynched in Sialkot

On December 3, Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana, a Sri Lankan factory manager at a local factory in Sialkot, was tortured to death and his body burnt in broad daylight over blasphemy allegations.

As per the preliminary report, a dispute had emerged when Kumara removed some posters from the walls of the factory. Within minutes, a mob of 400-500 had formed and set on the victim within the premises of the industrial unit, eventually killing him.

Kumara’s body was later dragged outside the factory and burned.

Karachi woman allegedly kills 65-year-old man, dismembers his body

A 65-year-old man was allegedly murdered by a woman who claims to be his wife. Not only that, the women also dismembered the man's body.

When the cops arrived, they discovered a dismembered body of a man inside the flat, while the woman was "comfortably sleeping" in another room, as per the police.

While there were bloodstains on the woman's hands and clothes, she denied she had murdered the man. Police said that the woman used a knife, a hammer and other weapons to commit the murder.