Kanju arrested for murdering youth

LAHORE
Police have arrested Mustafa Kanju, son of former foreign minister Siddique Khan Kanju, allegedly involved in the killing of a 17-year-old orphan boy following a road accident in South Cantt police limits.
He will be produced before a court on Friday (today). Seven people including four guards of Mustafa Kanju were already arrested in the case. Police registered FIR 320/15 against the accused under different sections of PPC and anti-terrorism act. Main accused Mustafa Kanju was arrested from Kehror Pakka, Lodhran in a raid.
DIG operations confirmed the arrest of the main accused in less than 24 hours. He added legal formalities would be completed to send a strong case against him. To a question, he said police would interrogate guards and get empties of the bullets examined from Punjab Forensic Science Agency.
A legal expert while talking to The News said the Punjab government should take extra ordinary steps for the trial of the accused and the court should decide the case within a month.
On Wednesday, Mustafa Kanju was going on his BMW car LWK-77. When he reached Street-4 of Cavalry Ground, his car collided with a car.
To another query, the DIG said police were trying to trace out the owner of the other car.
Kanju and his guards scuffled with the car driver and Kanju opened fire. As a result, passersby Zain, 17, of Street-11 of Cavalry Ground, and Husnain were injured. The car driver managed to flee unhurt. The injured were rushed to the Services Hospital where Zain succumbed to his injuries while the condition of Husnain was stated to be critical.
Zain was a student of 8th class. He was the only brother of his two sisters. His father had died six months ago. The incident created panic in the locality.
The victim’s uncle Suhail demanded justice and appreciated the police for arresting the influential accused without any delay. It is worth mentioning here that killing of innocent citizens by the sons of affluent people is unusual.
On October 9, 2014, son of former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani had shot dead a young man for crossing his way. In Karachi, Shahrukh Jatoi, Ghulam Murtaza Lashari, Siraj Talpur and others had killed a 20-year-old man for forbidding them from harassing his sister.
The accused were granted bail after paying blood-money. There is a dire need to review the use of ‘Diyat’ or blood-money to settle the matters involving terrorism acts.
A sense of fear and insecurity prevails in society when sons of elite families are set free by making their guards scapegoats. —Contributed by Muhammad Shahzad