Pakistani baby 'in hiding' after attempted murder charge
Nine-month-old Musa Khan in a 'secret place' after being charged with trying to kill gas workers in a riot
THE family of a nine-month-old baby have been forced into hiding, after their young child was charged with attempted murder by Pakistani police.
One officer has been suspended and an official inquiry has been launched in the wake of the farcical case that saw nine-month-old Musa Khan fingerprinted in a police station for his supposed involvement in a riot in one of Lahore's slums.
The child's grandfather said that the family had moved to protect themselves from the intense pressure they had been subjected to by local police. "We have had to move to a secret place because we are poor and the police are putting huge pressure on us to manipulate the case," Muhammad Yasin said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
When forced to make an appearance in court, Musa sat on his grandfather's lap and had to be comforted with a bottle of milk.
The episode has "shone an embarrassing light on Pakistan's shambolic criminal justice system," The Guardian says, in which underpaid and ill-trained police can often lay false charges due to either corruption or individual incompetence.
According to a report filed by police, Musa was one of a number of people who tried to kill gas company workers as they attempted to disconnect houses who had not paid their gas bills. People living in the area, including Musa, were reported to have thrown stones at the gas company staff and the policemen accompanying them.
Locals insisted that the protest was peaceful. "There were only women in the houses at daytime and they resisted this discontinuing of supply," Yasin said. "Later we blocked the road and raised slogans against police."
Analysts say that the practice of charging entire families is sometimes used as a form of collective punishment. The judge presiding over the case granted Musa bail and ordered police to explain why they had brought the charges.
Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab province, ordered an immediate inquiry into the case.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Is the Gaza war tearing U.S. campuses apart?
Today's Big Question Protests at Columbia University, other institutions, pit free speech against student safety
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
DOJ settles with Nassar victims for $138M
Speed Read The settlement includes 139 sexual abuse victims of the former USA Gymnastics doctor
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
14 recent scientific breakthroughs
In Depth From photos of the infant universe to an energy advancement that could save the planet
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Sydney mall attacker may have targeted women
Speed Read Police commissioner says gender of victims is 'area of interest' to investigators
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Why are kidnappings in Nigeria on the rise again?
Today's Big Question Hundreds of children and displaced people are missing as kidnap-for-ransom 'bandits' return
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies hang over Sydney's Mardi Gras
The Explainer Police officer, the former partner of TV presenter victim, charged with two counts of murder after turning himself in
By Austin Chen, The Week UK Published
-
How the idyllic Galapagos Islands became staging post in world drug trade
Under the radar Ecuador's crackdown on gang violence forces drug traffickers into Pacific routes to meet cocaine demand
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Armed gangs, prison breaks and on-air hostages: how Ecuador was plunged into crisis
The Explainer Gangs launch deadly revenge after president declares state of emergency following escape of feared drug boss from prison
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Ecuador tips toward chaos amid prison breaks, armed TV takeover
Speed Read New President Daniel Noboa authorized the military to 'neutralize' powerful drug-linked gangs after they unleashed violence and terror across Ecuador
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Prague shooting: student kills 14 people at university
Speed reads Police believe suspect, who killed himself, may have shot his father before carrying out mass murder
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Ex-US diplomat confessed spying for Cuba to undercover agent, FBI says
Speed Read DOJ says former US ambassador Manuel Rocha perpetrated 'one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published