A local landowner and his two accomplices in Pakistan has
been arrested by the Police for allegedly chopping off the hands of a 17-year-old
farmworker whose family had failed to repay a loan of 15,000 rupees
($150). The incident took place around two months ago in the agricultural
district of Hafizabad, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Lahore city.
It was only reported to police Monday after the victim’s
family decided to speak out.
Landowning families wield considerable power in rural
Pakistan, practising a form of feudalism over the peasant and subsistence
farmers in their employ.
"Asad Israr-ul-Haq and his two accomplices have chopped off
hand of Akram Abu Bakar, 17 years old. The victim’s family had borrowed 15,000
rupees from the landlord and they were not able to return it," said a copy of
the police report.
Local police station chief Mahmood Butt said the attackers
had used a feed chopper to mutilate the teenager. Abu Bakar’s family
returned to their native district of Sheikhupura after the attack, fearing
further reprisals from the landowner. They were eventually persuaded by a local
journalist to break their silence, Butt said.
The office of Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of the
bread-basket province of Punjab where the attack took place, said he had asked
police to submit their report to him.
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