March 25, 2024
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
Bahawalpur police have arrested from Hasilpur tehsil, Zain son of Irshad and Adeel son of Azeem, for the recent murder of Tahir Iqbal Cheema, an Ahmadi man and local leader in the Chak 84 Fateh area. Both the suspects are residents of Hasilpur and have reportedly confessed to the crime.
DPO Bahawalpur Syed Muhammad Abbas had formed special teams to solve the case quickly. Earlier he had told Voicepk that they would use both traditional and modern methods of investigation which would help to arrest suspects.
The case has now been transferred to the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) due to potential unrest, with the suspects in their custody, while DPO Abbas praised the Hasilpur Sadar police team and vowed to secure justice for the victim.
The suspects claimed to have studied at a seminary affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group. Police believe the murder weapon also came from their madrasa, Jamia Islamia Ahya Uloom (Registered) in Hasilpur.
The Murder
On March 4, 2024, Tahir Iqbal Cheema, a local leader of the Ahmadi community in Hasilpur, was out for a walk in the early hours of morning, when two unknown assailants came by and shot and killed him. The incident took place in Chak 84 Fateh area of Hasilpur. During the incident, Adeel was riding the motorcycle and Zain opened fire.
The first suspect, Zain, was arrested as he exited the mosque after offering Tarawih prayer. Upon his identification, another accomplice Adeel of Chak 62, was also arrested.
According to details, Adeel owns a motorcycle repair shop. Both the alleged killers belong to Madrasah Jamia Islamia Ahya Uloom, a registered seminary in Hasilpur. The madrasah teacher is Obaidullah, son of Hafiz Ibrahim who also owns a medical store. According to the statement of the accused, they had asked the madrasa teacher what would be the easiest way to reach heaven.
The two accused have also belonged to the Lashkar Jhangvi organization and have been studying in the seminary of this organization in Jhang for some time.
A representative of this madrasah while admitting the boys were students here, denied having any such teacher there.
“We have no one named Obaidullah here, and we have no links with any militant group,” he said on condition of anonymity. “These boys were studying here, but they had completed their educational year and we had sent them home after that. We had no responsibility of what they did later.”
According to the representative, they had provided the boys’ records and complete paperwork to the CTD officials. “They belonged to a typical village zamindar family, nothing out of the ordinary,” he told Voicepk.
A volatile situation has been occurring since some time across the country since an Ahmadi man was released by the Supreme Court in a blasphemy case. There have been riots and processions by those who have condemned the release of the man. The police therefore referred the case to CTD and have handed over the killers to the custody of CTD.
Community Reaction
“We laud the police for their quick work in finding and arresting the culprits,” said a local community representative T*. “There should be a more intensive operation rooting all such elements of hate out of society.”