Javed Iqbal - A killer of 100 children

Javed Iqbal, Muhammad Ali Mughal’s sixth child and fourth son. He matriculated from Islamia High School. In 1978, he started his own business when he was a student of Islamia College. His father had already bough two bungalows in Shadbagh. In one of the houses, Javed setup a business of steel recasting and lived therefore many years with teenage boys.

In December, 1999, Javed sent a letter to a local news paper and police confessing to the murders of 100 children, aged in between six to sixteen. In his letter to news paper he confessed that he dismembered and strangled the victims who were generally orphans or runaways on the Lahore streets. He also confessed that he disposed the bodies into the vats of hydraulic acid and the remains were dumped into the river. Iqbal also confessed in his letter to the police that he had planned to drown himself in the water of River Raavi after his crimes, however after he failed to did so, Pakistan police launched one of the largest manhunt Pakistan had ever witnessed at that time. The four other teenage boys who shared Javed’s 3-bedroom flat and his crime were detained from Sohawa. In few days, one of them died in the police custody by jumping from a window.

In the house of Javed, Reporters and Policemen found the blood stains on the floors & walls, the chain that Javed had used to strangle the victims, plastic bags containing the picture of the victims. These things were labeled neatly with the hand written pamphlets. Police, also found the two hydraulic acid vats with human bodies partially soaked into them were left open for them to find and it also has a note claiming that “the bodies were deliberately left open, so that authorities can find them”.

Police also found a diary in which he had written all the details about his victims like their names, ages and their death date. Javed had also written the exact cost required to murder a victim “In terms of cost, it took me 120 rupees ($2.40 approx) to murder every victim. This cost also includes the cost of acid”.

On December 30th, 1999, just before a month, Javed came into the office of Daily Jung news paper and subsequently he was arrested by the police. He made a quote that, he surrendered to news paper because he had fear of his life and was worried about the fact that police would kill him.
Despite the handwritings on the pamphlets in Javed’s house were matching with Javed’s, he stated in the court that he was innocent and the whole episode was a hoax to draw the attention to the dilemma of children from poor families. He also told that his statements to police were taken under the unavoidable circumstances. More than hundred witnesses testified against Javed and he & his companions were found guilty.

The sentence announced for the killer had called to cut his body into the 100 pieces and to dissolve them into the vat of acid. However, the council of Islamic ideology told that it would violate the Islamic teaching to respect the body of deceased.

On the morning of October 9, 2001, Javed and his companion Sabir were found dead with hanging themselves in their cell, their apparent suicide. His lawyer said that Javed was victim of a police conspiracy. However, Police said that he had already made the attempts of suicide twice in the past.

By Carlos Cabezas López