A tragic finale to an arranged marriage
KARACHI, July 20 2006: A depressed man surrendered himself to the police after killing his ex-wife and infant son in Bukhtawar Goth near Cattle Colony within Sukhkhan police jurisdiction on Sunday, June 25. The 30-year-old Arshad Khan, who belongs to Peshawar, committed the heinous crime. He is the second eldest among his siblings. Since coming to Karachi a month earlier, he had been unemployed although in Peshawar he worked as medical salesman. He was looking for the same kind of job here.
Arshad, who had surrendered himself at the Sukhkhan Police Station, is to face the charge of murder and the ‘challan’ of his case would soon be presented before the Malir Courts. The area police have also recovered the concrete block and kitchen knife used in the twin murder. Before giving himself up, he called his elder brother Zulfiqar and father-in-law Mir Zaman and told them about the incident. The first person to know about this murder was Bahar Gai, his maternal aunt. His cousin Hayder Ali, who had helped him in getting a house on rent, lived near Arshad’s residence. He confessed to his crime at their residence before marching on to the police station.
The dead bodies were placed in Edhi morgue at Sohrab Goth following the post-mortem. According to the medico-legal expert of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), the deceased were initially hit with a block on their heads and then slaughtered. The bodies were received by Muhammad Zaman, the brother-in-law of the accused. Muhammad Zaman lodged the complaint at the Sukhkhan police station at which FIR number 136/06 was registered against Arshad. The same day Zaman had the bodies of his sister and nephew flown to Peshawar for burial.
Arshad Khan informed Zulfiqar Ali Bajwa, Sub Inspector and the Investigation Officer, Sukhkhan Police Station, that he married the 22-year-old Bushra a couple of years ago. It was typically an arranged marriage. Although they had an infant child named Ghufran who was only six and a half months old, their marital relations were never very good. He told the IO that there was nothing wrong with Bushra. She was the perfect example of a trustworthy wife. The real issue lay with his father.
According to Arshad’s statement, early in his childhood his father sent him miles away from their native town to his maternal uncle in Deer. He remained his guardian till he was called back by his father when he was at his prime. Arshad Khan stated that he was informed by his mother that he was going to be married with Bushra and that she had been chosen by his father as his bride. IO Zulfiqar Bajwa quoted Arshad Khan as telling him: “Although my father was a very well-known person of the locality and he really had great political and social influence in the area, I was not at all happy with this imposed decision.”
IO Bajwa informed this correspondent that according to Arshad, this was the only reason for the dispute among them. According to the recorded statement, the news of his wedding with Bushra was not at all entertaining for Arshad because it was arranged by his father who had kept him at a distance when he needed him most. However, he could not refuse his father’s choice, either. Since his family commanded respect for its religious character and background, he felt compelled to remain silent. During the initial investigation, Arshad Khan informed the Sukhkhan police that after some months he divorced his wife but it was not declared in their hometown. From there another problem arose.
He told the police: “Although I had divorced my wife, I was never in any condition to disclose the real scenario to anybody. Then after some time, both of us, me and my wife, decided to re-marry and hoped the issue would disappear forever. But for that it was necessary that someone else married with my wife and then after getting a divorce from that person, she could marry me again.” According to his statement to IO Bajwa, “It was next to impossible to arrange a remarriage in Peshawar and that is why we came to Karachi and told our parents that we were going there to earn a better living.”
He added, “Those days were very painful for both of us. For the whole colony we were husband and wife but we knew the ground reality. We shared the same room but not the bed”. He stated that it was not easy to convince anybody to marry his wife and then divorce her so that they could marry again. “All this time we were miserable and once we even decided to go back to Peshawar and disclose the whole situation in front of our family elders. For that purpose we traveled to Hyderabad but at this stage both of us felt too nervy and immediately came back to Bukhtawar Goth, where we were staying.”
Arshad told IO Bajwa that although he tried his best to resolve the matter, he could not, and after failing in each and every attempt, he decided to kill his wife to end the story. He said that while Bushra was washing her mouth, he hit her with a heavy concrete block and then slaughtered her. Why he killed his infant son? Because, according to the statement, he did not want his infant son to be brought up by the person he had started hating – his own father.
Furthermore, he added, “If I had told Bushra’s family that we were not husband and wife anymore, then they might have killed her and I did not want to create this situation. That’s why I killed her myself.”
Source: The News
Date:7/20/2006
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