The head of a household in Chakwal, suffering from financial problems, committed suicide after killing his wife and children.
According to the police, Shafqat Saleem committed suicide after killing all four of his children and his wife in Muzdalifah Town area in Chakwal city. Police say that Shafqat Saleem shot himself after calling the police on the 15 helpline. His other victims were two daughters aged 14 and 16 years, and two sons aged 13 and 17 years.
According to the preliminary investigation as reported by Geo, the victim had financial problems that he could not cope with.
All eyes are on the court in hopes that justice will be granted
Ashfaq Ishaq Satti, a well-known television anchor on ARY News, is currently being investigated after his 27-year-old wife, Nomaika Mehak, revealed that he had been physically abusing her and threatened to kill her.
Images shared on Nomaika’s Facebook post show severe bruises on her face and arm. Sources say that the entirety of her injuries — and the dark veracity of Satti’s barbarity trumping all bounds — has not been revealed to the public due to a sense of discomfort attached to sharing of sensitive details in a conservative society like ours.
Lawyer and political activist, Jibran Nasir, who has taken up Nomaika Mehak’s case, says that the exact details of the nature of injuries cannot be shared because it is “up to Nomaika to share if she so pleases”. However, he shared that 13 visible injuries have been noted in the Medical Examination otherwise, whereas X-ray and ultrasound results are pending.
Former anchorperson and entrepreneur Rabia Anum, who has been actively supporting Nomaika, shared on social media that Nomaika “continues to experience sleeplessness and intense pain”.
What’s Next?
According to Jibran Nasir, Ashfaq Satti has not been granted pre-arrest bail and is currently on an interim pre-arrest bail. His bail is set for February 12 for arguments when the judge will either confirm or dismiss the bail.
On the other hand, the police has received the preliminary medical examination report, and has conducted site inspection and recorded statements of Nomaika and her family.
“As a matter of principle, there should be no justification and no tolerance for violence against women. However, getting justice through courts is unfortunately a time-consuming and exhausting journey for any victim/survivor in this country. We will pursue the case to ensure a fair and transparent investigation and justice for our client,” states Nasir.
“The first medical examination conducted at Abbasi Shaheed was tainted with mala fide. The woman medico-legal officer (WMLO) did not even bother looking at the injuries and only wrote down injuries she saw on Nomaika’s face and that too weren’t properly examined. After we were engaged as counsel, we moved an application with the Police Surgeons Office and got a detailed and proper examination of all injuries. We are thankful to the Police Surgeon Dr. Summaiya for her effective and prompt response to our application as required by the law in such cases.”
Message to the Public
Talking to The Current, Rabia Anum asserts that the public demanding ‘two sides of the story’ need to understand that “there are never two sides of the story when there is domestic violence”.
“If a woman is crude or disrespectful, you have the choice to simply leave her. But you cannot ever kill her,” she adds. “Agar aurat buri hai tou uss se rishta khatam kerain, uss aurat ko nahin.”
Anam further iterates that according to Nomaika, Satti tried to kill her. He strangled her, he choked her, he covered her face with the pillow and threatened to kill her and hide her body away.
“The truth is that if people are given the actual details of the injuries, it will bring shivers down their spine,” added Rabia Anum.
Background
Ashfaq Ishaq Satti was lambasted on social media after his wife posted photos on Facebook depicting injuries on her face and body, allegedly inflicted on her by her husband. This also resulted in his suspension from ARY news where he has been a working as a tv anchor.
In her account, 27-year-old Nomaika Mehak writes that she was almost beaten “to death” by her husband Ashfaque Ishaque Satti who “repeatedly” threatened to kill her and then hide her body. The pictures she uploaded show the extent of violence inflicted, including extensive bruising and swelling.
After the post was publicly published, ARY news suspended News Anchor Ashfaque Ishaque Satti “with immediate effect till the law takes its course”.
A kidnapped 22-year-old MPhil graduate, Talha Arshad, was found fatally shot in the head, despite his family allegedly having paid Rs2.5 million in ransom to his abductors. His grieving family staged a protest demonstration at Rafiq Shah Chowk against the police after placing the body on the spot.
The victim, a resident of Mohalla Telianwala, had recently completed his MPhil from the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. On the day he went missing he left home on a motorcycle on January 17 but did not return.
Upon a lawyer’s intervention, the police registered a kidnapping case on January 18, filed by Talha’s brother Irfan Arshad.
The abductors had sent a video of Talha tied with a rope, through WhatsApp on January 21, demanding a ransom of Rs10 million for his release. Despite the family sending Rs2.5 million to the cryptocurrency account specified by the kidnappers, Talha was not released, reports The Express Tribune.
However, on Wednesday, Talha’s tortured body, locked in a suitcase, was discovered in a well near an upscale neighborhood.
Kamran Arshad, the victim’s brother, alleged that the police had acted as silent spectators when the victim’s phone was active on January 21 and 23. The police reportedly found the location of the deceased’s mobile phone in Bahawalnagar and Donga Bonga, initiating searches in the areas. The DPO’s spokesperson Zahid Rasool said the police were actively engaged in the matter, collaborating with the victim’s family.
In response to protesters’ demands, the SHO was removed from the local police station and an inquiry against him initiated.
The police’s efforts to trace the suspects were reportedly hindered as the perpetrators used VPN to conceal their location.
Update: The DPO in Sadiqabad issued an order for departmental action while suspending the ASI for misbehaving with a foreign cyclist.
Explaining the incident, DPO Rahim Yar Khan Rizwan Omar Gondal said that 3 foreign cyclists entered Sadiqabad from Rahim Yar Khan limits from Sindh on Saturday and they were provided security as per SOP.
The cyclists were adamant that no security should be provided to them, upon which the fight took place, says the DPO.
According to the police spokesperson, the foreign cyclist sprayed the ASI in anger, on which the ASI slapped the foreign tourist.
Moreover, departmental action is being taken against the concerned police official by suspending him for inappropriate behavior.
Previously, it was reported three foreign tourists cycling in the Sadiqabad area of South Punjab have raised serious allegations of assault and sexual harassment against the Punjab police. They claim to have entered their jurisdictions on January 25.
A video of the attack on the tourists surfaced on Saturday where a policeman was seen using foul language and snatching the camera from the one documenting it. It was one of many alleged assaults that the cycling tourists, namely Alex Sidney of Italy, Charlie West of the UK, and Motahhareh Abbasi of Iran, had been facing since they entered Punjab. They have always been having a Punjab police escort supposed to ensure their security but the police allegedly attacked them.
Dawn talked to the tourists and the details narrated by them included horrific details of abuse and being manhandled brutally by a policeman, earlier identified as ASI Liaqat. Alex said the situation escalated as the officers reportedly grabbed him by the hair and subjected him to physical abuse.
Regarding the version of police, the tourists were stopped from going to Kashmore, Sindh, an unsafe area, when the confrontation happened. However, Alex said they were not going towards Kashmore but Lahore. He said they had cycled in Sindh, mostly escorted by police, but did not face any such incident there. In Punjab, he claimed, they had taken the same route as was told by police. According to him, it was not the first assault by police. “We entered Punjab on January 25 and started having assaults and harassment from January 26. In earlier assaults, we were hit by police vehicles and motorcycles as they continued telling us that we were going the wrong way. We told them that we were going to a hotel on the national highway. They would try to knock us down.” Motahhareh said the policemen in Punjab would drive their vehicles or ride motorcycles very close to her, sometimes making her get off the road. “On January 26, I fell down and got injured when a policeman stopped his motorcycle suddenly in front of her. And it was quite deliberate. I fell down and injured my leg while my heavy bags fell on me.” Motahhareh later got medical treatment for her leg.
About this alleged assault, Alex said they went to Ahmedpur Lamma Police Station and asked the policeman on the desk to register a complaint, but he refused to do so, asking them to take help from social media.
Motahhareh also raised serious allegations of sexual harassment against police in Pakistan. “Many times, they asked me for my WhatsApp number and kept on insisting. When I asked them the reason, they would start insulting me. At the start I gave my phone number to some of them and they started asking for pictures and sending creepy messages. For the last one month, I have been receiving creepy messages from Pakistani policemen.” She alleged that policemen from all three provinces they travelled in harassed her and the situation was worse in Punjab.
A policeman in Punjab held her hand forcibly for many minutes, said Alex. When asked whether there was a language barrier between the policemen and the tourists, Alex said some of the policemen spoke good English. “Whenever we stopped at some point to have a break, they would continue telling us it’s not safe here and it would be safe after a few kilometers. In fact, they wanted us to go out of their jurisdictions quickly but the next escort would do the same, telling us lies about the route as well.”
Alex said they felt safer without police as the common Pakistanis were very good and hospitable towards them and added that many times in Sindh, they did not have police escort and it was very safe.
Alex said they were staying in Sadiqabad near the site where they were assaulted by police as Motahhareh’s leg was recovering, rejecting the earlier police report that they had left the area for Lahore. He said he wanted to cycle through Punjab and meet the people who are very good. He said they felt safe when they were on their own without police and were in fact more in danger in presence of their escort, which ironically was there to protect them. Charlie West wanted to cycle separately towards Lahore as he rides it fast but the situation is unclear now.
Police in Rahim Yar Khan and Sadiqabad have not provided their official version. However, Dawn’s sources in Rahim Yar Khan police said the tourists had left Sadiqabad hotel they were staying in on Saturday and now they were staying at a restaurant along a filling station in the middle of Sadiqabad and Rahim Yar Khan. The sources denied the allegations of assault but insisted that police escort was there for the tourists’ security.
Alex started his travel on bicycle from Italy in 2022 and cycled through Europe during the last two years. He was joined by Mohtahhare in Tehran when he was travelling towards Pakistan. They entered Pakistan from the Balochistan-Iran border and cycled through Balochistan and Sindh. In Karachi, they were joined by Charlie West who landed in Karachi from the UK.
