Barkhan murders: Victims' father says Khetran forced him to testify against son

• MLO says deceased girl may be Giran Naz's daughter. 
• Khan Muhammad Marri says he doesn't know about deceased girl.
  
• Says 'Khetran wanted me testify against his son in false case'.
  

CHAMAN/QUETTA: The case of the gruesome murders in Barkhan took another turn on Thursday, as Khan Muhammad Marri — father of two of the victims — claimed that Balochistan Minister for Construction and Communications Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran wanted him to give false testimony against his son.

Khan Muhammad — the man who had accused Khetran of keeping his children in a "private jail" after his family members were found dead in a well in Barkhan district — joined the sit-in being staged in Quetta.

"My sons have been murdered by Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran," Khan Muhammad said.

He said that he was a servant of Khetran, and had escaped one of the minister's " three private jails" where he had kept other women, the elderly and children.

"The bodies found from Barkhan well are of my sons," he said, adding that he was informed that the remaining family members had been recovered by the levies force.

He regretted the brutal murder of the girl found dead along with his sons, saying that she was unidentifiable but "she is someone's sister or daughter".

He reiterated his allegations saying that Balochistan minister Abdul Rehman Khetran was "behind this incident" and his children were held in the "private jail".

Khan Muhammad's statement came after the Levies Force "recovered" his wife, Giran Naz — who had been presumed dead — and their five children including a girl, allegedly abducted by Khetran.

The operation was conducted in light of Khan Muhammad's allegations that sparked protests across Balochistan for the recovery of missing persons, after the discovery of bullet-riddled bodies of three people from a well in the Barkhan district.

The provincial minister — who denied any involvement in the brutal murders — was taken into custody by police on Wednesday.

However, during the search operations, Marri's wife, Giran Naz, who was presumed dead, along with her children Farzana, Abdul Majeed, Abdul Ghaffar, Imran and Abdul Sattar were recovered, the Levies officials said.

The force took action in the areas of Kohlu, Dakki, Barkhan and Dera Bugti as Khan Muhammad Marri's family was held hostage at different locations.

The Levies Quick Response Force conducted operations in east Balochistan and South Punjab to recover the hostages, it said. The force also foiled an attempt to transfer the two kidnapped boys to Punjab.

Specifying the locations, the Levies officials said that Naz, Farzana and Imran were recovered from Kohlu, Chamalang and Dakki in the border area of Bala Dhaka, respectively. Meanwhile, Majeed was recovered from Dakki, and Ghaffar and Sattar from Kohlu and Dera Bugti, respectively, they added.

No arrests were made in the operations, the force added.

Naz and her children have been kept under the protection of a law enforcement agency.

The pictures of the recovered people have also surfaced. In one of the pictures, Naz and her children are seen walking with the Levies personnel after being rescued, while in the other a Levies official is seen covering the woman with a shawl.

Autopsy of bodies conducted 

Meanwhile, the police completed the autopsy of the bodies found in the well.

Police Surgeon Dr Aisha Faiz, who performed the post-mortems, revealed that one of the deceased was a 17 to 18-year-old female. She said that the deceased was raped and tortured before being shot dead.

The medico-legal officer said that the autopsy finds that the girl was shot thrice in the head and her face and neck were mutilated with acid to hide her identity. She said that the girl may not be Giran Naz but her daughter.

Moreover, the other two were also tortured before being killed, she added.

Balochistan minister arrested

On Wednesday, Khetran was arrested for his alleged connection with the gruesome murder of three people, the police said — as the bullet-riddled bodies were found in a well in the Barkhan district.

"Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran is accused of murdering three people and that is why he has been taken into custody," police said, as the protesters continued their sit-in for the third consecutive day in Quetta demanding justice.

The protesters — who have staged a sit-in along with the three bodies at the Fayyaz Sumbal Chowk — are demanding a case be registered against Khetran, his ministry taken away, and the five people in captivity be recovered.

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.

A spokesperson for the police said that a special investigation team was interrogating the minister and raids were being conducted to recover the "kidnapped" people.

"More arrests are expected in the murder of a mother and her two sons. A few days back, the woman had issued a video message claiming that she was in Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran's prison," the spokesperson said.

"Days after the woman's video message came to the fore, she and her sons were found dead in a well in a well in Barkhan," the spokesperson said.

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 the offence, or giving false information to screen offender), and 302 (qatl-i-amd) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

After coming under severe criticism, Khetran denied allegations of involvement in the murders and claimed to be a “peaceful and law-abiding person”.

“Accusations of owning a private prison and the murder of three people is a conspiracy to damage my political reputation,” he said, adding that his house was searched by the previous government as well.

“Had there been a jail, it would have been discovered,” he insisted, “However, if anyone is still in doubt, they can check my house.”

He further said that the allegations were a “sinister attempt” to deprive him of the “right of regional politics”.