Suspect in Multan orphan's killing dies in alleged police encounter

A 15-year-old orphan was allegedly chased and run over by his employer after trying to leave his workplace in a private housing society in Multan. Police arrested the suspect, who was remanded in police custody for four days by a court on Tuesday, The Express Tribune reported.

Waseem Abbas had lived at an orphanage for five years and wanted to learn electrical work, according to Shoaib Haider, the orphanage’s general secretary. The orphanage had sent him to contractor Tauqeer Nazir just six days earlier to learn the trade.

Rescue officials said Waseem suffered a severe head injury and died at the scene, within the jurisdiction of the DHA police station. His body was taken to Nishtar Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Update: suspect killed in alleged encounter

The main suspect, Tauqeer Nazir, was killed early on Wednesday in an alleged encounter with Punjab’s Crime Control Department (CCD) near Bahawalpur, police said, Geo News reported. He had escaped from the custody of Multan’s DHA police station while on a four-day physical remand.

CCD District Officer Irfan Akbar said a police team tried to stop two men on a motorcycle near the Northern Bypass in Bahawalpur. He said the men opened fire while trying to flee, and that Tauqeer was struck by bullets fired by his accomplice, who escaped.

Police have not explained how or when Tauqeer escaped custody, or how he reached Bahawalpur. The second suspect, Amjad, is still on the run; Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari said police were searching for him in Faisalabad.

The killing has caused outrage across the country. Bokhari said Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif was personally monitoring the case, and that the two men chased Waseem for about a kilometre before running him over. PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique called for an audit of orphanages that send children to workplaces to learn trades. Police have also detained several orphanage staff for questioning.

Questions over the encounter

The killing of Tauqeer in an alleged encounter drew concern from lawyers and journalists over extrajudicial killings and due process, Dawn reported. The CCD, set up last year, has been criticised by rights groups for a high number of deaths; the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan alleged earlier this year that it had a “deliberate policy of staged police encounters”, which the department called unfounded.

“When we demand ‘justice’, what we mean is through the rules of fair investigation, fair trial and due process,” said advocate Nida Usman Chaudhry. Lawyer Abdul Moiz Jaferii said: “This is not justice, it is vengeance.” A post by PML-N MPA Hina Parvez Butt praising the killing as swift justice was later deleted after criticism.

Update: 16 children moved from the orphanage

Punjab’s Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) on Wednesday took 16 children living at the Multan orphanage into protective custody and moved them to its Multan centre, The Express Tribune reported. The orphanage’s application for registration with the bureau had been rejected.

A bureau team visited on the orders of CPWB chairperson Sarah Ahmed. She said the orphanage was registered with the Punjab Charity Commission, and the bureau had asked the commission to review that registration and asked the authorities for police action against the orphanage. The bureau also released a list of registered shelter homes and said it would keep a zero-tolerance policy on violence and abuse against women and children.

Update: HRCP calls for independent probe

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Wednesday called for an independent and transparent investigation into both Waseem’s killing and the death of the accused, The Express Tribune reported. It said the encounter killing raised serious questions about the state’s approach to protecting life and upholding legal safeguards.

Extrajudicial killings, the commission said, violate the right to due process and deprive victims and their families of the chance to establish the truth and seek justice. It warned that treating such killings as an acceptable way to control crime suggests “vengeance without accountability is being prioritised over justice”, and urged the authorities to end them in all forms.

The Bonded Labour Liberation Front Pakistan also demanded an investigation and action against unregistered orphanages. Its president, Syeda Ghulam Fatima Gilani, alleged that more than 52 unregistered orphanages across Punjab were sending children to brick kilns and workshops, and accused a Multan labour officer and a Child Protection and Welfare Bureau official of negligence.

The group called for monthly surprise inspections of all orphanages and an online record of children living in them. “Wasim should have been in school, not at a workshop,” Gilani said, warning it would approach the Lahore High Court if no action was taken within seven days.

Police also registered a case against an orphanage administrator, Shoaib, for sending the child to work without permission, on a complaint from a Labour Department assistant director, and a separate case against Tauqeer under the Child Labour Act, Geo News reported.

What the FIR says

The FIR, registered on Monday, names Tauqeer Nazir and Amjad Ali as suspects under Sections 302 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code, relating to murder and acts done by several people with a common intention. It alleges:

• The warning: Waseem’s cousin, Mukhtiar Ahmed, told a police patrol at about 4:35pm that the suspects had subjected the boy to violence and threatened to kill him
• The chase: Waseem fled to a neighbouring street to escape, and police saw him running in fear, followed by a Honda car
• The killing: the suspects allegedly drove over him deliberately; his head struck a pillar at the gate of a house, crushing his skull
• The arrest: Tauqeer was caught at the scene while Amjad escaped; police seized the car as evidence

Two residents named as witnesses told police that Waseem had passed them shortly before, saying the suspects wanted to kill him and that he was running to save his life.

When Tauqeer was brought before Judicial Magistrate Saadia Aslam, lawyers assaulted him outside the courtroom despite the presence of police.

“It looks as though he was hit”

According to Haider, Tauqeer claimed he had followed Waseem in his car after the boy became tired while running away, and that his car had slipped. Haider said video footage did not appear to support that. “It looks as though he was hit with the car,” he said.

Haider said the orphanage had made inquiries about the contractor, who had a team of 40 to 45 boys, and had received no earlier complaints. Another boy from the orphanage who also worked for him has been brought back.

Waseem’s cousin Nadeem said the boy had often said he did not want to go to the electrician and wanted to return home.

A family’s grief

Waseem’s father died nine years ago. His uncle, Jafar Hussain, said he had looked after the boy for two to three years before Waseem was admitted to the orphanage. “Tauqeer deliberately killed my nephew,” Hussain said, demanding justice.

His maternal grandfather said he had taken the boy to the orphanage so he could get an education rather than struggle on the streets, and also demanded punishment.

Waseem’s funeral prayers were held at about 2am in Mouza Daulatpur, and he was buried in his ancestral graveyard. Only close relatives and orphanage officials attended.

Why it matters

Waseem was a child sent out to learn a trade, and he lost his life trying to leave it. His death is a painful reminder of how unprotected working children in Pakistan remain, and his family is now waiting for the courts to deliver justice.

This article draws on reporting by The Express Tribune, Geo News and Dawn.