Police blunder allows killers of British family in Pakistan to go free

Police investigating the murder of three members of a British family in Pakistan allowed two of the alleged killers to escape by releasing them so they could mourn for their dead brother, relatives of the victims have claimed.

Rob Crilly, in Islamabad
telegraph.co.uk

Officers had arrested the two men, suspected of killing Mohammed Yousaf, 51, his wife Pervez, 49, and his daughter Tania, 22, from Nelson, Lancashire, on Friday but agreed to let them go so they could attend the funeral of their brother.

Police were due to take them into custody on Sunday – at the end of the mourning period – but now the men have gone missing and the relatives who acted as guarantors have admitted they are unable to deliver them to the authorities.

Furious members of the Yousaf family said the police had put lives at risk by delaying the detention of suspected murderers.

“They were allowed to come to the funeral of their brother but now they’ve legged it and it is putting us all in great danger,” said a nephew of Mr Yousaf, who did not want to be named.

“Police should have been watching these guys 24-7 so they could bring them in straight away.” About 70 relatives of the Yousaf family are in Pakistan. Police have provided armed guards to allay fears of further attacks.

Tariq Abbas Qureshi, the local police chief, admitted his officers had arrested the two men but then been forced to release them on the orders of a court.

“We will arrest them soon,” he said. “We know where they are and are tracking them by their mobile phones.”

Police believe the three gunmen, one of whom was killed during the attack, were seeking revenge on behalf of their sister who is being divorced. She was married to Mr Yousaf’s son, Kamar. The couple, who were cousins, married around 10 years ago and had two daughters.

It has emerged that the mother of three of the gunmen has been arrested for issuing death threats against the extended Yousaf family.

“She was issuing threats against the victims’ family and was inciting her children to finish the job,” Mr Qureshi said.

The Yousaf family had been in Pakistan for another son’s wedding when a bitter family feud spilled into violence. They were shot as they visited a graveyard to pray at a village near Gujrat, in eastern Pakistan.