Warning: This report contains details of violent scenes and events.
It was a cold night on December 30 and it was half past nine in the night. A crowded press conference was underway at the Punjab Police's CIA headquarters in Lahore where police officers were busy explaining how Pakistan's most wanted brutal killer escaped their capture. Just at that time, a rickshaw stopped in front of the Jang newspaper office on the busy Davies road in Lahore, from which no one could guess that this apparently disabled middle-aged man was the person who got off. The brutal killer is the talk of the world, including Pakistan, in the last four weeks.
The peculiarity of this case was that it was none other than this person who revealed the crime and now he came to arrest him of his own free will.When the man introduced himself to Munir Hussain at the reception office of the newspaper, there was silence for a few moments. That middle-aged man introduced himself and said: 'I am Javed Iqbal, the killer of a hundred children.Why did Javed Iqbal come to the office of Jang newspaper to arrest him? Did he really kill a hundred children or was it something else? Javed Iqbal first reported his crime to whom? Was Javed Iqbal a mental patient hungry for fame or a brutal killer?Before going to the bottom of these questions, Javed looks at Iqbal's past, which led him to become Pakistan's most brutal serial killer.
BBC Urdu got access to Javed Iqbal's diary, documents of the case including his letters and several personalities connected with it who could not be seen in public for various reasons before today.An old man said that this child would make a name.Muhammad Ali's family had to migrate from India after the partition of India, so they headed to Lahore like millions of refugees. The substantial income from his iron pipe shop on Brandeth Road in Lahore was sufficient for Muhammad Ali's extensive family of five sons and four daughters.
Javed Iqbal was also one of Muhammad Ali's children but was somewhat different. Javed Iqbal's elder brother Zia-ul-Haq told the BBC that 'Javed was a stubborn, argumentative and fanatical child since childhood. He used to obey every legitimate and illegitimate thing. If the father refused to do anything, he would threaten him.As Javed Iqbal grew older, his father Muhammad Ali's troubles increased. According to Zia-ul-Haq, Javed Iqbal used to have the opposite thoughts in his mind. Sometimes he used to quarrel with someone, sometimes he was rude to someone, brothers and sisters sometimes. But only to the extent of talk. Father, however, was worried about his actions. According to Zia-ul-Haq, an elder of his family had seen Javed and said that 'Javed Iqbal will create a name, whether he does it in good name or in notoriety.' He said that since childhood, Javed desired to have a name in the world.Javed Iqbal's old friend Naseem Murshid aka Bawa told BBC that 'Javed Iqbal in Railway Road College.He loved children very much.Javed Iqbal's father had set up a small iron pipe factory for him in Shad Bagh.
At the same time, Naseem Murshid befriended Javed Iqbal, a retired police constable. According to Naseem Murshid, Javed Iqbal was also elected as the president of the market and at that time the magistrate and AC of the area used to visit him in his office. A dark chapter of Javed Iqbal's personality also begins from this area. Javed Iqbal used to select young children to work in his factory. Javed's brother Zia-ul-Haq says that he needed labor for work. But he cared a lot about those children (factory workers). He used to take off their old clothes and give them new clothes and shoes. He used to spend thousands of rupees on these children. He also used to take them for a walk in Murree. Outside the factory Javed Iqbal had also opened a snake and fish shop to attract the children and the children of the area used to gather around it all day long. Javed Iqbal's brother Zia-ul-Haq spoke to the BBC in the same shop, which once housed snakes, scorpions, and fish.Javed Iqbal's father had set up a small iron pipe factory for him in Shad Bagh.
At the same time, Naseem Murshid befriended Javed Iqbal, a retired police constable. According to Naseem Murshid, Javed Iqbal was also elected as the president of the market and at that time the magistrate and AC of the area used to visit him in his office. A dark chapter of Javed Iqbal's personality also begins from this area. Javed Iqbal used to select young children to work in his factory. Javed's brother Zia-ul-Haq says that he needed labor for work. But he cared a lot about those children (factory workers). He used to take off their old clothes and give them new clothes and shoes. He used to spend thousands of rupees on these children. He also used to take them for a walk in Murree.
Outside the factory Javed Iqbal had also opened a snake and fish shop to attract the children and the children of the area used to gather around it all day long.Javed Iqbal's brother Zia-ul-Haq spoke to the BBC in the same shop, which once housed snakes, scorpions and fish.Zia-ul-Haq must admit that he had severed ties with Javed Iqbal many years ago and had stopped interacting with him.
It should be noted that the first formal case of child abuse against Javed Iqbal was registered in 1990 at Shad Bagh police station and the second case was written in 1998, i.e. a year before the incident of child murder, at Lower Mall police station in Lahore. In the second case, Javed Iqbal spent some time in jail but was later released. What was it that Javed Iqbal was not only avoiding the arrest of the police in spite of the accusations and cases of sexual abuse, but after some time he was able to commit an even more serious crime? The surprising thing is that Javed Iqbal kept getting away from the policemen all this time.
worked like a compuHis mind ter.
Leaving the issue of child rap aside for a moment, this part of Javed Iqbal's life shows him as a man who was not only fond of earning, showing off and spending money, but also hungry for fame. When Naseem Murshid was asked about Javed Iqbal's personality, he said that Javed Iqbal's mind worked like a computer. He had a picture of Governor Punjab Ghulam Jilani installed in his room and used to say, 'Look, Governor Jilani with Javed Iqbal.'javed Iqbal also had a few other hobbies. Carrying weapons, photography, keeping snakes, watching movies and befriending influential people. All these were expensive hobbies and they also brought him into the public eye. But at the same time, Javed Iqbal was also a part-time journalist.According to Javed Iqbal's brother Zia-ul-Haq, "Javed was also a writer and the editor of a monthly magazine 'Anti-Corruption'." Through this magazine, Javed Iqbal befriended many policemen. He used to deliver magazines to the police stations every month and thus his acquaintance with the policemen increased. Policemen used to come and go in Javed Iqbal's private gatherings as well.All these hobbies might have proved expensive on Javed Iqbal's pocket, but according to Javed Iqbal's brother Zia-ul-Haq, after the death of his father, when the property was divided, Javed's share included two shops and two flats at No. 3, Brandeth Road, Ram Street. The box came. When this property was sold for lakhs, Javed's family became indignant. In the year 1993, Javed Iqbal bought several kanals of land in Rana Town and built a bungalow there where he housed working children. He also had a jeep in which he used to take the children for outings to MurreeAccording to Naseem Murshid, Javed Iqbal left Shad Bagh and settled first in Rana Town and later in Ghaziabad. This frequent change of residence was probably the reason behind Javed's infamous expulsion from Shad Bagh, but now this habit was about to take a new turn in his life.
