Aspiring for job in Iran, two Pakistani migrants are killed on border

Iranian border guards perform a drill. Two Pakistanis died on the border with Iran on April 12, 2018. (AFP)

• Pakistani youth Shahzeb Khan died in bid to take more relatives for work in Iran.
• The dead bodies, as well as the arrestees, were subsequently handed over to the Levies authorities.

GWADAR, Pakistan: The bodies of two Pakistanis killed by Iranian security forces have been handed over to their families, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) official Asif Baloch told Arab News.
Shahzeb Khan and Muhammad Sadiq, who came from Bannu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, were killed by firing from Iranian security forces when they, along with five others, just entered into Iranian territory from Pakistan’s Balochistan province at 3am last Thurday, said Baloch.
The other five of the group were arrested, he said.
“Iranian security forces handed over dead bodies and the arrestees to Pakistani Levies, who dispatched the bodies to their families,” while the arrestees were handed over to the FIA for further investigation.
“Subsequently, a case was lodged against the five accused under the passport act,” Baloch said.
“Investigations are under way, and the FIA is trying to reach the local facilitators who arranged for their accommodation and other facilities in Gwadar.”
The arrestees, Sifat Ullah Khan s/o Qadir Khan, Shah Fehyaz Khan s/o Aswab Khan and Waheed Khan s/o Zillah Dar Khan, were relatives of deceased Shahzeb Khan and residents of Qamri Khail Town of District Bannu.
As for the other two of the five arrested, Muhammad Muqeem s/o Muhammad Iqbal, is resident of Rustam Sargana Tehsil Shorkot, district Jhang in Punjab, whereas Muhammad Sagheer s/o Abdul Kareem belongs to Azeem Pura neighborhood of Karachi, the FIA official said.
“Many people from Bannu work as fishermen in Iran,” said Baloch. “Shahzeb had come back to Pakistan on vacation and on his return to his job he took his relatives with him,” the official added.
According to Baloch, a relative of one of the arrestees has been working as a tailor in Iran.
“Initial interrogations suggest they were not going to Europe. Their destination was Iran,” said Baloch, adding that the FIA will further investigate the incident.