Rescued dog helps police find owner’s body, wife and brother-in-law held

A Pakistani plain-clothes policeman walks with a dog in Lahore on October 29, 2017. (AFP/File)
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Updated 25 March 2025
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Rescued dog helps police find owner’s body, wife and brother-in-law held

  • Omar Hayat, an agricultural worker, had rescued a stray dog with broken legs and nursed it back to health
  • Hayat’s body was buried under a heap of cow dung, which was then set on fire to destroy any evidence

KARACHI: A stray dog rescued and nursed back to health by a Pakistani agricultural laborer led police to its owner’s buried body, exposing a murder plot allegedly orchestrated by the victim’s wife and her brother, officials said on Tuesday.
Omar Hayat was killed last month in a village in Tehsil Chichawatni, located in Punjab province. His wife, Shamim, and her brother, Fida Hussain, were arrested and sent into judicial custody on Monday, according to Station House Officer (SHO) Shahzad Ahmed.
“Omar Hayat had found the dog on the roadside months earlier, with both of his legs broken,” Ahmed told Arab News over the phone. “He took it in and treated its legs. After approximately two months, the dog was able to walk again. Since then, the dog stayed with Hayat all the time.”
The SHO said that when Hayat went missing, the dog began searching for him.
“It sensed its owner’s scent and started digging a pile of burnt cow dung with its legs. It continued this for two days until the legs of the body appeared,” he continued, adding that a local resident, Bilal Shah, saw the remains and informed the police.
“We called the crime scene unit and began collecting evidence,” the police official said.
According to him, the victim’s face had been completely burned, making identification difficult. His wife also refused to identify the body and “continuously misled the police,” he added. However, Hayat’s mother recognized the legs, saying they resembled her son’s, and subsequent DNA testing confirmed the body’s identity.
“We arrested Shamim’s brother, Mudasir, a week ago, and Shamim was arrested two days ago,” the police official said. “Yesterday, both were sent to jail on judicial remand.”
During interrogation, both suspects confessed to murdering Hayat and burying his body under a pile of cow dung, which they set on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence and hinder identification.
“Hayat’s wife said that her husband used drugs and had affairs with other women,” Ahmed said. “After catching him with a woman, his wife went to her brother, and they both murdered him.”
Originally from Multan, Hayat worked at a farmhouse in a Chichawatni village, where he lived with Shamim and their four children.
Shamim belongs to Khanewal, and the couple had been married for 15 years.
 


India has told Pakistan to control ‘drone intrusions,’ Indian army chief says

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India has told Pakistan to control ‘drone intrusions,’ Indian army chief says

  • Indian army ‌chief General Upendra Dwivedi says at least eight drones ‌from Pakistani have been ​sighted since ‌Saturday
  • Ties between nuclear-armed neighbors have been frozen since May last year when both sides engaged in fierce fighting

NEW DELHI: India’s army chief said on Tuesday that the head of Pakistan’s ​military operations had been told to control what he said were drone intrusions from Pakistan into India, months after the nuclear-armed rivals engaged in their worst fighting in decades.

An Indian military source said there were five drone intrusions on Sunday evening on the frontier in the Jammu region of Indian Kashmir.

In another incident on Friday, a drone from Pakistan was suspected to have dropped two pistols, three ammunition magazines, 16 bullets and one grenade that were recovered following a search, the source ‌said.

Indian army ‌chief General Upendra Dwivedi said at least eight drones ‌had ⁠been ​sighted since ‌Saturday.

“These drones, I believe, were defensive drones, which want to go up and see if any action was being taken,” Dwivedi told reporters at an annual press conference ahead of Army Day on January 15.

“It’s possible they also wanted to see if there were any gaps, any laxity in the Indian army, any gaps through which they could send terrorists,” he said, adding that the directors of military operations of the two ⁠sides spoke by phone on Tuesday.

“This matter was discussed ... today and they have been told that this ‌is unacceptable to us, and please put a ‍stop to it. This has been conveyed ‍to them,” Dwivedi said.

Indian media reports cited army officials as saying the incursions ‍were by military drones.

There was no immediate reaction from Pakistan to his comments.

MAY CONFLICT WAS WORST IN DECADES

Ties between the nuclear-armed rivals have been frozen since a four-day conflict in May, their worst in decades, that was sparked after a militant
attack on Hindu tourists in ​Kashmir killed 26 men. New Delhi said the attack was backed by Pakistan, allegations which Islamabad denied.

The two sides used fighter jets, missiles, ⁠drones and heavy artillery, killing dozens on both sides before agreeing to a ceasefire.

In the past, there have been reports of civilian drone intrusions from Pakistan into Indian states along the border, with Indian security agencies telling local media that they had shot down drones that were seeking to drop light arms or drugs.

Pakistan has dismissed these accusations as baseless and misleading.

India also accuses Pakistan of helping what it says are “terrorists” to enter into the Indian side of Kashmir, where tens of thousands of people have been killed in a revolt against New Delhi’s rule that began in 1989 and lasted decades until the violence ebbed.

Pakistan denies the Indian accusations and says that it ‌only provides political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris fighting against New Delhi.