Not sure how many folks followed an article relating to the murder of a boy and the cover-up that soon followed on Chowk.
I am not asking for alot here, just a simple fax or e-mail to your local representative for a formal entry into human rights violation. All help will be appreciated. Follwing is copy of the e-mail being circulated to muster support.
Dear friends and AKU colleagues residing in United States, Canada or UK
>
>After giving up hope of getting any response from our government, some of
us
>have been in touch with staffers at Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator John
>Kerry's office. They have recommended that we either e-mail, or send a
hard
>copy of my petition to different senators and congressmen/women, so that
>the case is officially logged as a human rights violation. They said that
>the more letters/e-mails they get, the better it is.
>
>I am requesting as many of you as possible to modify the attachment below
>for your own senator/congressperson/representative (if in UK or Canada),
and
>either e-mail, or preferably mail a hard copy to them. May be this would
>help me in getting justice, and save other innocent lives.
>
>Your US representative's e-mail and contact address can be obtained from
the
>US government's website: http://thomas.loc.gov
>
>It was emphasized by the staffers that you do not have to be a citizen or a
>permanent resident for the complaint to be considered official. you just
>have to be a taxpayer in this country.
>
>Thank you for your help.
Subject: Human rights violation in Pakistan:
A CRY FOR HELP AGAINST A CHILD'S COLD-BLOODED MURDER AND JUSTICE DENIED!
Dear Senator/Congressman/woman (name of representative):
This is to bring to your attention the heinous kidnapping and murder of
Farrukh Ali, an innocent 15 year old boy from the city of Gujrat, Pakistan,
and the willful inaction of the local police in preventing the murder, and
in apprehending the murderer because of the murderer's political
connections. I wish you to strongly register your condemnation of the local
authorities with the Government of Pakistan.
Farrukh Ali, a student of Grade 9 was the son of a mechanic in a local
electrical fan factory in Gujrat. On Feb 16, 1999, Farrukh Ali, was
kidnapped from a shop one block from his house. His parents received an
anonymous call that night at 9:00pm, demanding a ransom of 10 lac rupees
(approximately $20,000). His parents are poor and uneducated and do not have
access to such financial resources. They immediately informed the police
and requested to activate police surveillance on the telephone line. The
kidnappers called again at 11:30pm on the same night and Police Officer
Tufail Mirza personally listened to the conversation with the kidnappers.
Tragically police surveillance had not been activated by then in spite of
the prior warning and the call could not be traced.
The following day, the boy's parents reported a suspect, Atiq Rehman to the
local police station. Several neighbors had seen Rehman with Farrukh just
before his disappearance. Rehman was locally known to be a junior member of
a gang operated by an individual named Ali Shah. The gang has been involved
in arms and drugs trafficking. The police took Rehman in custody, and told
the parents that they were interrogating him. Ali Shah was also detained on
suspicion of kidnapping, but was released after Police Inspector Liaquat Ali
Goraya received phone calls from local politicians requesting his release.
Local townsfolk strongly suspect that Ali Shah and his gang operate with the
connivance of the local police.
In the following 10 days the police did not come up with any clues regarding
the child's whereabouts, and took little interest in the case. The
distraught parents were sent back from the police station every day with the
assurance that since the police had the prime suspect in custody, no harm
would come to their son.
On Feb 26, Farrukh's dead body was discovered in a gutter near Rehman's
house by a child fishing a cricket ball out of the gutter. He had been shot
in the head, his hands were tied at the back, his eyes and mouth were taped.
Tied to his legs was a pair of trousers that had a stack of bricks in them,
in order to prevent the body from surfacing. According to the post-mortem
report, the victim had been dead for several days. Investigations showed
that the pair of trousers belonged to Rehman.
It was only then that police officials showed some interest in the case and
searched Rehman's house for the first time. They found Farrukh's wallet from
the room where the kidnappers had detained him. Rehman confessed his
involvement in the crime. According to his confession, the kidnapping was
planned by his friend, Ali Shah, and the murder took place around midnight
on the day of kidnapping, soon after the second ransom call Allegedly. Ali
Shah invited Rehman to be his accomplice and share the ransom. They chose
Farrukh Ali because they knew his older brother was a physician in USA, and
thought ransom money could be obtained from the US. According to Rehman,
they lured the unsuspecting adolescent by saying that his brother had sent
him gifts from the US through a courier. In fact, the victim's brother, Dr.
Amjad Ali, is currently training to be a surgeon at Duke University Medical
Center, and was hardly in a position to come up with the ransom money. Dr.
Amjad Ali arrived in the United States for surgical training after receiving
his medical degree from The Aga Khan University, in Karachi, Pakistan, where
he studied on a scholarship as his family did not have the means to support
his education.
This case highlights the corruption and incompetence that pervades the
Pakistani police system as well as the poor family's powerlessness in
getting justice for their son's murder. In all likelihood, the police
officers tipped off the kidnappers as soon as the family involved the police
that ransom was unlikely to be paid, and that the family was making the
kidnapping a police case. This is the only logical explanation of why the
kidnappers would murder the child so quickly and not make any further
attempts to collect ransom. To make matters worse, the family is being
threatened with dire consequences by Ali Shah's family, which is locally
influential, if they choose to pursue the case against him. No effort has
been made by the local police to arrest the prime suspect, and neither have
they taken any action to provide security to the family. Several police
officers involved in the investigation, including Deputy Superintendent
Tufail Mirza, who was the officer with whom the initial kidnapping report
was filed, and who listened to the ransom call, and Police Inspector Liaquat
Ali Goraya, who released Ali Shah from detention, have been transferred out
to other police stations. Records of Ali Shah's arrest have been expunged.
The victim's brother, Dr. Amjad Ali has written multiple letters to
Pakistani government officials including the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr.
Nawaz Sharif, the Chief Minister of Punjab Mr Shehbaz Sharif, Interior
Minister Choudhry Shujaat Hussain, Information Minister Mr Mushahid Hussain,
Inspector General of Police in Lahore, and to the Pakistani Embassy in the
United States, and no one has even bothered to respond. I hope that your
good office will take this matter up at the highest level possible with the
Government of Pakistan to ensure that a thorough investigation takes place,
that justice is served, and the politicians and officers responsible for
releasing Ali Shah are punished.
This is not an isolated case of human rights abuse in Pakistan. Rather it
represents a recent pattern of gross violation of the rights of the people
of Pakistan, making a mockery of democracy and freedom of the press in the
country. The local and international media have covered the
government-sanctioned "honor-killing" of a young woman, Samia Sarwar in her
lawyer's office - her only crime was seeking a divorce from her abusive
husband. Equally terrifying is the recent beating and arrest of Mr. Najam
Sethi, a respected journalist and editor of the out-spoken weekly, The
Friday Times, for criticizing the government for its failed policies and
corruption.
I sincerely hope that the United States Government can pressurize the
Government of Pakistan into cleaning up its dirty act, and consider linking
all aid to the Pakistani Government to its Human Rights record. Details of
the case are attached.
Yours sincerely
(Name and Contact Information)
DETAILS OF FARRUKH ALI'S CASE
Date of Birth: February 17, 1983
Father's name: Ahmed Ali
Address: Mohalla Muslimabad, Nai Abadi, Gujrat.
Residential Tel: 521433 (Gujrat, Pakistan) Gujrat telephone area code 04331
Date of disappearance: Feb 16, 1999
Body found on: Feb 26, 1999
Case filed at: Civil Lines Police Station; Tel.(04331) 523304 / 28729
Case Number: 144
Police officers involved in investigation:
Police Inspector Liaquat Ali Goraya
Deputy Superintendent Tufail Mirza
Superintendent Masood Bungish, the senior most police official in the town
(04331) 524578, 515977, 516400,
Other officer: Haji Fazal Hussain Police Station Division A; Tel no: 523225
Dr. Amjad Ali's contact information:
600 Laurel Springs Drive
Apt non 617
Durham NC 27713
USA
Tel 919 681 3881
Fax 919 684 8294
Email
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
I am not asking for alot here, just a simple fax or e-mail to your local representative for a formal entry into human rights violation. All help will be appreciated. Follwing is copy of the e-mail being circulated to muster support.
Dear friends and AKU colleagues residing in United States, Canada or UK
>
>After giving up hope of getting any response from our government, some of
us
>have been in touch with staffers at Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator John
>Kerry's office. They have recommended that we either e-mail, or send a
hard
>copy of my petition to different senators and congressmen/women, so that
>the case is officially logged as a human rights violation. They said that
>the more letters/e-mails they get, the better it is.
>
>I am requesting as many of you as possible to modify the attachment below
>for your own senator/congressperson/representative (if in UK or Canada),
and
>either e-mail, or preferably mail a hard copy to them. May be this would
>help me in getting justice, and save other innocent lives.
>
>Your US representative's e-mail and contact address can be obtained from
the
>US government's website: http://thomas.loc.gov
>
>It was emphasized by the staffers that you do not have to be a citizen or a
>permanent resident for the complaint to be considered official. you just
>have to be a taxpayer in this country.
>
>Thank you for your help.
Subject: Human rights violation in Pakistan:
A CRY FOR HELP AGAINST A CHILD'S COLD-BLOODED MURDER AND JUSTICE DENIED!
Dear Senator/Congressman/woman (name of representative):
This is to bring to your attention the heinous kidnapping and murder of
Farrukh Ali, an innocent 15 year old boy from the city of Gujrat, Pakistan,
and the willful inaction of the local police in preventing the murder, and
in apprehending the murderer because of the murderer's political
connections. I wish you to strongly register your condemnation of the local
authorities with the Government of Pakistan.
Farrukh Ali, a student of Grade 9 was the son of a mechanic in a local
electrical fan factory in Gujrat. On Feb 16, 1999, Farrukh Ali, was
kidnapped from a shop one block from his house. His parents received an
anonymous call that night at 9:00pm, demanding a ransom of 10 lac rupees
(approximately $20,000). His parents are poor and uneducated and do not have
access to such financial resources. They immediately informed the police
and requested to activate police surveillance on the telephone line. The
kidnappers called again at 11:30pm on the same night and Police Officer
Tufail Mirza personally listened to the conversation with the kidnappers.
Tragically police surveillance had not been activated by then in spite of
the prior warning and the call could not be traced.
The following day, the boy's parents reported a suspect, Atiq Rehman to the
local police station. Several neighbors had seen Rehman with Farrukh just
before his disappearance. Rehman was locally known to be a junior member of
a gang operated by an individual named Ali Shah. The gang has been involved
in arms and drugs trafficking. The police took Rehman in custody, and told
the parents that they were interrogating him. Ali Shah was also detained on
suspicion of kidnapping, but was released after Police Inspector Liaquat Ali
Goraya received phone calls from local politicians requesting his release.
Local townsfolk strongly suspect that Ali Shah and his gang operate with the
connivance of the local police.
In the following 10 days the police did not come up with any clues regarding
the child's whereabouts, and took little interest in the case. The
distraught parents were sent back from the police station every day with the
assurance that since the police had the prime suspect in custody, no harm
would come to their son.
On Feb 26, Farrukh's dead body was discovered in a gutter near Rehman's
house by a child fishing a cricket ball out of the gutter. He had been shot
in the head, his hands were tied at the back, his eyes and mouth were taped.
Tied to his legs was a pair of trousers that had a stack of bricks in them,
in order to prevent the body from surfacing. According to the post-mortem
report, the victim had been dead for several days. Investigations showed
that the pair of trousers belonged to Rehman.
It was only then that police officials showed some interest in the case and
searched Rehman's house for the first time. They found Farrukh's wallet from
the room where the kidnappers had detained him. Rehman confessed his
involvement in the crime. According to his confession, the kidnapping was
planned by his friend, Ali Shah, and the murder took place around midnight
on the day of kidnapping, soon after the second ransom call Allegedly. Ali
Shah invited Rehman to be his accomplice and share the ransom. They chose
Farrukh Ali because they knew his older brother was a physician in USA, and
thought ransom money could be obtained from the US. According to Rehman,
they lured the unsuspecting adolescent by saying that his brother had sent
him gifts from the US through a courier. In fact, the victim's brother, Dr.
Amjad Ali, is currently training to be a surgeon at Duke University Medical
Center, and was hardly in a position to come up with the ransom money. Dr.
Amjad Ali arrived in the United States for surgical training after receiving
his medical degree from The Aga Khan University, in Karachi, Pakistan, where
he studied on a scholarship as his family did not have the means to support
his education.
This case highlights the corruption and incompetence that pervades the
Pakistani police system as well as the poor family's powerlessness in
getting justice for their son's murder. In all likelihood, the police
officers tipped off the kidnappers as soon as the family involved the police
that ransom was unlikely to be paid, and that the family was making the
kidnapping a police case. This is the only logical explanation of why the
kidnappers would murder the child so quickly and not make any further
attempts to collect ransom. To make matters worse, the family is being
threatened with dire consequences by Ali Shah's family, which is locally
influential, if they choose to pursue the case against him. No effort has
been made by the local police to arrest the prime suspect, and neither have
they taken any action to provide security to the family. Several police
officers involved in the investigation, including Deputy Superintendent
Tufail Mirza, who was the officer with whom the initial kidnapping report
was filed, and who listened to the ransom call, and Police Inspector Liaquat
Ali Goraya, who released Ali Shah from detention, have been transferred out
to other police stations. Records of Ali Shah's arrest have been expunged.
The victim's brother, Dr. Amjad Ali has written multiple letters to
Pakistani government officials including the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr.
Nawaz Sharif, the Chief Minister of Punjab Mr Shehbaz Sharif, Interior
Minister Choudhry Shujaat Hussain, Information Minister Mr Mushahid Hussain,
Inspector General of Police in Lahore, and to the Pakistani Embassy in the
United States, and no one has even bothered to respond. I hope that your
good office will take this matter up at the highest level possible with the
Government of Pakistan to ensure that a thorough investigation takes place,
that justice is served, and the politicians and officers responsible for
releasing Ali Shah are punished.
This is not an isolated case of human rights abuse in Pakistan. Rather it
represents a recent pattern of gross violation of the rights of the people
of Pakistan, making a mockery of democracy and freedom of the press in the
country. The local and international media have covered the
government-sanctioned "honor-killing" of a young woman, Samia Sarwar in her
lawyer's office - her only crime was seeking a divorce from her abusive
husband. Equally terrifying is the recent beating and arrest of Mr. Najam
Sethi, a respected journalist and editor of the out-spoken weekly, The
Friday Times, for criticizing the government for its failed policies and
corruption.
I sincerely hope that the United States Government can pressurize the
Government of Pakistan into cleaning up its dirty act, and consider linking
all aid to the Pakistani Government to its Human Rights record. Details of
the case are attached.
Yours sincerely
(Name and Contact Information)
DETAILS OF FARRUKH ALI'S CASE
Date of Birth: February 17, 1983
Father's name: Ahmed Ali
Address: Mohalla Muslimabad, Nai Abadi, Gujrat.
Residential Tel: 521433 (Gujrat, Pakistan) Gujrat telephone area code 04331
Date of disappearance: Feb 16, 1999
Body found on: Feb 26, 1999
Case filed at: Civil Lines Police Station; Tel.(04331) 523304 / 28729
Case Number: 144
Police officers involved in investigation:
Police Inspector Liaquat Ali Goraya
Deputy Superintendent Tufail Mirza
Superintendent Masood Bungish, the senior most police official in the town
(04331) 524578, 515977, 516400,
Other officer: Haji Fazal Hussain Police Station Division A; Tel no: 523225
Dr. Amjad Ali's contact information:
600 Laurel Springs Drive
Apt non 617
Durham NC 27713
USA
Tel 919 681 3881
Fax 919 684 8294
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
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