• To bring you up to speed: A Barkhan sardar and the mystery of three Marri bodies in a well

DNA testing is likely to bring the authorities closest to solving a triple homicide in Balochistan that was initially a hostage crisis but turned into a murder mystery in less than a week.

For now, the three mysterious bodies discovered in a well in Barkhan continue to be the focus of a Marri tribe sit-in or dharna in Quetta. These two males and a female are, however, unlikely to be the children of Khan Mohammad Marri, as he initially claimed. That is because his family was rescued by the Levies.

Oddly, though, two of his sons were recovered from Kohlu, two from Dera Bugti and a son and daughter from Dukki. They were kept at Marri tribesmen’s homes. Khan Mohammad Marri maintains though that the bodies from the well are also his children.

The protesting Marri tribesmen had demanded that an FIR be registered and arrests be conducted. On Friday, the Khan of Kalat’s young brother Senator Prince Omar Ahmadzai Khan said that a Jirga had found that all demands had been met which is why the sit-in should end. Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman is in London but he granted his younger brother permission to hold a Jirga at their residence to tackle the issue.

The Marri tribesmen are not budging, however.

Giran Naz wants to see bodies of her two sons

Khan Mohammad Marri thanked his tribesmen for staging a protest demonstration and people of other ethnicities, and the media who raised their voices for his case.

“I hope that legal action and police action would be taken now. I want to announce that do not protest for my children and bodies. Bodies would be handed over to me. Medico-legal proceedings will be done,” he told reporters in Quetta.

The family had an interaction with the media at the IG police office. Officials told Aaj News that Gira Naz and her children’s statements would be recorded in front of a judicial magistrate on Friday night or Saturday morning.

Marri’s wife Giran Naz Bibi claimed that two of her children were killed. “My two sons were killed. Their bodies should be given to us. I want to see them,” she said before sobbing her heart out.

Inspector General of Balochistan police Abdul Khalique Shaikh has removed DSP Noor Mohammad from the post and asked him to report to the Central Police Office. Najeebullah Pindrani was appointed as his successor. Acting SP Barkhan Noor Mohammad was also removed from his post.

Meanwhile, the crime branch has acquired 10 days of physical remand to question Sardar Khetran. Investigators are headed to Barkhan to gather evidence.

At the heart of the matter is a tussle for power. Inam, Sardar Khetran’s fourth son from his second wife, wishes to succeed his father. But tribal tradition is clear: only the first son can take the pagg or be made chieftain. Even one of the most powerful sardars of Balochistan, Nawab Akbar Bugti failed to make his grandson Brahmdagh (from his third son) nawab. The tradition had to be followed and Mir Ali was made sardar.

This case began when Khan Mohammad Marri accused Sardar Abdur Rehman Khetran, who is a minister, of holding his family in a private jail. The case came to light when a video went viral last month in which Marri’s wife Giran Naz Bibi made a passionate appeal, holding a copy of the Holy Quran. Giran Naz said that she and her children were being held in Khetran’s private jail.

The female body recovered from the well could not be that of Khan Mohammad Marri’s 44-year-old wife Giran Naz Bibi but a teenager, the police surgeon has said.

Khetran was arrested but the FIR did not name him.

On Monday the three bullet-riddled bodies were found in a well in Haji Kot village of Barkhan, nearly Khetran’s residence. While the two young men were shot in the head, the female victim’s face was disfigured by acid, according to the FIR registered on Wednesday.

Police Surgeon Dr Ayesha Fayyaz who carried out postmortem examination in Quetta said that the female victim was a 17- or 18-year-old.

She was raped and subjected to physical abuse. She died from being shot in the head thrice, said the police surgeon. After the murder, her face was doused with a chemical or acid that left it completely unidentifiable, said the doctor.

The medical team has taken DNA samples as this will be the only way to determine her identity. The samples would be sent to the Punjab forensic laboratory.