Two teenage brothers were badly beaten to death. Pakistani men savagely beating them, drawing blood before dragging and hanging their dead bodies from a nearby pole. None of the dozens of people watching tried to stop the attack, not even several police.
The scene, caught on video and broadcast on news channels, has outraged other Pakistanis, some of whom are asking if years of state neglect have brutalized society. It also is a blow to the already-shoddy image of the government as it appeals for international aid to cope with disastrous floods.
The killings occurred Aug. 15 in Sialkot, a town in eastern Punjab province. As details have emerged, authorities appear increasingly confident the two boys — Mogheez, 19, and his brother Muneeb, 1 6— were innocent.
The two went to play cricket after praying and having sehri ( they were fasting during Holy month of Ramadan), carrying a bag with them containing game equipment, said Mujahid Sherdil, a top government official in the district. They were sons of a middle-class man who deals in fabric for soccer balls. Mogheez was honored with the title “hafiz” for having memorized the Muslim holy book, the Quran.
An armed robbery had taken place in the vicinity of the cricket field, so residents were on alert and police were nearby. Apparently, when the boys appeared with a bag, they were thought to be the robbers, Sherdil told .
He added, however, that more information was still being sought. The boys were believed to have been in fights over the past few days for the right to play on the cricket ground, which was about a mile (two kilometers) from their house. The origins of the video are unknown and there are reports that multiple men in the crowd recorded the attack using cell phones. Stations blurred out some of the more graphic images of the boys’ bloodied bodies, but several faces in the crowd are clearly identifiable, including several police officers in uniform who watched.
This incident is highly condemnable, especially in the police presence. The public has no right to kill anybody like this, because this is police’s job, but here in this horrible evil act, the police and 1122 were also involved, so the government should take strict action against them to show justice.
khushifairy 