August 15th, 2010, was just another day for most of us, but for two brothers from Sialkot, Pakistan, that day became the most horrifying ever. It was the day that took their lives away and ended their youth brutally. This is the true story of Mughees Butt (17 years) and Muneeb Butt (15 years) who were killed by the residents of a town for a crime they never committed — under the very nose of law enforcement officials. This story is being told so the world knows that even in these progressive times, in some places the value of life is nothing. It is simply worthless.
There are too many versions of the incident that I have come across during my investigations to tell them all. In addition are the stories from a number of journalists who covered the story, who spoke with witnesses present at the crime scene, and to family members of the two brothers. The background of the story is crucial and might help us connect the dots to understand just what happened, and who was responsible.
I was just thinking about the sad and barbaric case of Mugheez and Munib. The two brothers who were lynched and brutally murdered in Sialkot.
You will be surprised to know that although the evidence in the form of recorded camera footage where the people involved in the crime were exposed clearly has always been there and flashed on tv screens often, yet the case is being handled at a snail's pace.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) restrained yesterday a Gujranwala based anti-terrorism court from ruling in the trial of accused involved in the murder of these two brothers. The court issued this order after a petition was filed by the accused Jamil who challenged the trial court's order to use the television footage to identify people. The accused feel the trial court had no jurisdiction to give any such permission.
It is quite amazing that two young boys were killed by a mob in Sialkot in the presence of police officials on August 15th last year. Many others witnessed the crime scene and made videos from their cell phones as the two boys were lynched. They were killed by continuous beating. Their faces were damaged. And then their bodies were hung upside down to entertain everybody and everybody watched. Yet, with such a major evidence at hand, the case has not been resolved.
For a few weeks media and common people shouted and protested, made facebook pages and groups, showed their anger and valour, held peace demonstrations. Various versions of this story was created where some portrayed the boys as thieves.Then everything was forgotten.
This is the height of justice being delayed to such a pathetic extent. Whatever the boys did is secondary but the fact remains our law does not allow any body to kill anyone like that. I have seen the horrifying footage, which people can not stand and it was painful to know that till this day the boys and their family have not received justice. And why would they get some justice after all they were common and simple Pakistanis not some Raymond Davis!
I will just give an update on the sad Sialkot tragedy, in which the two young brothers Mughees and Muneeb Butt were beaten to death brutally. The video was very much out there for everyone to view, whether to choose to watch it or not.
I kept on asking my sister where will this case go and she did console that the video is the biggest proof and this case will be sorted out well. The boys and their family will get justice.
There was a lot of drama. Too many stories were told about the incident. Some people even ran off. The police officials were also not accounted for. Then there were appointments of new officials for this case. People also thought the judiciary will definitely resolve this case to set an example for the rest. The old report was that the court did announce that the two boys were no robbers, as many people claimed.
Anyhow, I did see the updates from an Oct 3rd updated article. The family has not received any justice though they do receive threatening calls time and again. So, it seems this case, in our flawed system will not get the justice.
The judicial inquiry has declared both the brothers as innocent. The evidence had been tampered. The medical officer & the investigation officer destroyed the vital evidence in this case. However, it has been proved that the murdered brothers are not robbers. It is said that stern action will be taken against both the medical officer & the investigation officer.
Sailkot Police & Rescue 1122 are blaming each other while recording statements. Rescue 1122 suspended officials say that they repeated ask the police to take the custody of Muneeb & Mughees. And that the police arrived after quite a delay. Due to this delay, the already mad crowd became so mad that they grabbed the 2 boys from them & lynched them to death.
The police is saying that it was cowardice on the part of Rescue 1122 that led to this horrifying event.
Is the Sialkot tragedy really a very complicated story or are the facts being hidden from the common citizen?
The latest report says that all police officials involved in the Sialkot incident have strong links with PML-N government. And this fact has been uncovered by the investigation, which still continues. Almost every officer who is involved has no fear of high-ups as they have either direct or indirect affiliation with PML-N parliamentarians.
Zulfiqar Ahmed Cheema (DIG at that time) is the younger brother of Justice Iftikar Cheema, the current PML-N MNA from that area. Waqar Chohan (DPO) is also from an influential family. Rana Ilyas (SHO) has strong ties with the local PML-N leadership.
Moreover, Punjab Chief Minster Shahbaz Sharif has a habit of directly inferring with the working bureaucracy & the Police department. And this is an old habit of the Sharif family.
These are some of the facts that cannot be denied unless of course people involved blatantly lie or deny the facts. What actually triggered the tragedy is still shrouded in mystery. But we have one thing (the gruesome video) that confirms that on August 15, monsters lynched to death 2 innocent boys of 15 & 17. Some people are still painting Muneeb & Mughees as robbers & that they shot Bilal & 3 other guys. There have been a couple of cases against Bilal. Anyone could have shot him. Muneeb & Mughees were at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Even if it would be proved that Muneeb & Mughees are hard-core criminals, I will take their side, cause this is no way of killing humans. The crazy mob not just brutally killed them, but also insulted their dead bodies by hanging them upside down.
There is only one thing that I haven’t been able to understand…why Muneeb & Mughees were allowed to play cricket in that criminally infested area where crime rate was so high? Why did their parents allow kids of just 15 & 17 to visit that place every Sunday? They were just 15 & 17, not 25 & 27. How could any parent allow children to visit such places & that too every Sunday? Moreover, the media doesn’t also openly uncover the facts behind that cricket match fight.
Anyhow, the gruesome video is in itself an excellent evidence against all those monsters. All we need is a good prosecutor & the killers will be hanged for sure. Some people are demanding eye for an eye…now that is not possible. The law is not that blind. The guilty ones will inshaallah be punished.
Some people are saying that we should leave this to God. See, God also doesn’t give anything on a platter. Humans need to work hard. As my kid sister says that here God has already helped those 2 boys…the video has driven people mad. Lots of bad incidents have happened in Pakistan, but this is the 1st time, that people are speaking against this brutality, because that video can neither be ignored nor forgotten.
Before I forget, cause it’s not that important…yesterday I saw Aashiq lady taking a U-turn on 50 minutes. I couldn’t believe my ears…few days ago, she said those boys were not nice & she was on the side of the villagers, but yesterday she had condemned that incident openly. I think it’s about time she should also give gold crown to Sania Mirza’s husband. She should have been fired the day she insulted Kashmaala on the national TV. I don’t understand why she’s still around…maybe they want her to make statements & then change her very statements after 2 days.
The mother & wife of Bilal were 100 % sure that Muneeb & Mughees killed Bilal & Zeeshan. And that people mentioned in the FIR were at the hospital, so they couldn’t have lynched Muneeb & Muhees. The mother repeated this a couple of times & that says a lot. If the villagers & the relatives of Bilal were not there, then who were those monsters? It’s very easy to buy witnesses any where in the world.
More than 1400 people have signed the petition…if you haven’t signed the petition as yet, please sign it now. This is one way of helping Muneeb & Muhees get justice. And please do not forget that as Muslims we are supposed to speak against this inhuman act.
For more than 10 years, I’ve been doing research on the abused laws. I know people in our country are brutally killed every day. People have always been creative in killing each other. Beyond any doubt, we are a very fucked up nation. Even on my blog, I’ve written about incidents which many didn’t even notice as the media wasn’t shouting. But just because people were not protesting earlier on doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t protest ever.
Many are still asleep, & many are not surprised & neither they want any one else to be surprised. Many can’t step outside their heads, cause they’ve never done it before. Many still don’t care. However, there are countless who want justice for Muneeb & Mughees. I think it’s better to wake up now, then never. It’s always better to use your brain cells than be influenced by those who don’t like to be surprised ever. What happened in Sialkot could happen anywhere in Pakistan. It’s our duty as the citizen of Pakistan & as Muslims to speak against evil. If we haven’t done that in the past, we can start off now. Fuck everyone else! Do what you believe you must do. Take a stand, cause it’s surely going to make a difference.
Now what actually triggered the Sialkot tragedy? I do not know how authentic this piece of info is, but you can do the math quite easily. Up til now we have heard about this cricket fight. It has been reported on one of the channels that the guy they had a fight with in a cricket match was actually the son of a Nazim who belonged to PPP. That Aashiq lady who is from the same party said that she is on the side of the villagers, as Muneeb & Mughees were robbers & what the villagers did was right. Fat people are invariably quite funny. In a barbaric country where even the educated folks are really illiterate & are not surprised till their own kids are being stoned to death, what can you expect of villagers? When you fight with some hotshot’s son, you might be lynched to death.
It all makes sense now. However all kinds of stories will keep on circulating. We may never get to know the true story. But no one has the right to brutally kill anyone & that anyone includes the minority, the Ahmedis, robbers, murderers & hard-core criminals. No one is above law.
More than 60 people have been arrested. The corrupt policemen too are in the custody. 4, 5 accused have gone to Iran. People are protesting. We all want justice for these 2 boys. It’s going to be a long fight, but justice can be ensured.
I can't tend to stop writing about the Sialkot incident enough. I want to see how this tragedy will receive justice. More importantly, will it receive justice or not for that matter. It is the least we could do to raise our voices. I wrote a piece just a while ago. Some former family planning minister of Sialkot area how she thinks that the two brothers are being painted very nicely by the media. She is with the villagers and claims the boys were robbers and that media is being too kind to them, where as they were robbers who robbed people every weekend.
I watch this programme on a news channel every now and then by a renowned journalist Najam Sethi. He gives sensible answers and talks about the realities logically. Today's program was also covering the incident of the Sialkot brothers. He revealed that it is the norm in this district that people have taken the law in their hands. Besides, extremely corrupt police officers were placed there who were often given medals for not doing anything. He says that since the entire culture of Sialkot is so corrupt, innocent lives were bound to get lost in some tragic incident. This culture was nurtured for a long time, which ultimately ended up in this ugly incident. Najam Sethi commented that police officers incharge such as some Cheema guy used to talk in the same language keh ulta tangaaaa dia jayee gaaa. And this is exactly what we saw. Looks like this was the normal thought process of every person residing there...they have this very strong sense of providing justice!
Many people called to say that this video should no longer be aired as it hurts them. However, just like I keep saying, the Najam Sethi painfully said that he saw the entire footage and it disturbed himself. But this is the truth, only truth will create fear and people will ask for justice only if they see how brutal the truth was. Anyway, now the videos are not fully shown. Media feels whatever they have shown has created enough sentiments. Many callers, one from USA called. He had seen the video and he was crying because he found it so disturbing. Some person from Gujranwala called and said that just a while ago the two boys were killed and then today again there is serious fight going on there and the police is not present there and people are killed again.
The good news that I came to know through this programme is that a new, honest police officeri is in incharge from yesterday in the entire district. He is Tariq Masood Yaseen. He is believed to be a true practitioner of ensuring that law is not broken. He informed that CID is looking at the crime part of this incident and will complete report in 2 days. Besides, more than 60 people involved have been arrested. Also similarly, police officials who are responsible for not ensuring that law is respected will be dealt with too. He also said, that it is time for reformation. And they will ensure the system is reformed.
It is a long way to go for reformation I believe. But, I would love to see justice. I want to see some sort of change. Give us a good shock! Surprise us! Justice kindly prevail now!
Nadzy you won't be able to read this piece. It covers what Firdaus Aashiq (some former Minister of Sialkot) is saying. This lady is saying, the media is portraying a very nice picture of the two brothers. They are not to be painted so nicely. They were thugs who used to stand out Sunday baazaar market and snatch things from people. She is with the villagers that they were right. And they say, that many number plates, 17 ID cards and some Rs 65,ooo were with the two robber boys. She is adamant they should not be given so much sympathy.
The boys uncle only confirmed that the boys did have a fight in the cricket match. If they played matches with such people, it wasn't a good thing.
I am just wondering what could have led to this? What triggered this? It was all wrong. The way it was done. Common people should learn to behave like humans.
On the other hand, I see many cold and bitter articles by some media people criticizing the society and saying that the society was always like this. Why are we so shocked now. I think we have always stood against the wrong and we all accept that our country suffered from more than one issues.
Finally I see a real picture of these two brothers Munib (15 years) and Mugheez (17 years). All the pictures and videos I watched showed terrible and horrifying images. Even if the boys ever did anything wrong, the way they died would have cleared all their sins.
I just read the fuckers have given a news update, that the boys shot someone during the cricket match. The villagers got the boys along with the shot person to rescue 1122 office to hand them over to the police, but the police arrived very late. By that time, that person had died. And then the villagers got very angry and started beating them till they were dead.
I think this is one of the most fucked up things I have read today. For a second even if in a match a quarrel took place and one person was shot...why did they kill two people. Two people cant shoot one person. And even if they got mad at the dead person, who was not really in the picture before, why did they keep on beating them for so long that they died. And then they were hung like dead animals. And now what happened to that woman who was saying, they were robbers they killed her husband.
It just shows, we are so fucked up. A nation of liars. I don't know if this is how justice will be served. Only God's wrath will teach this nation a lesson.
