LONDON/BARCELONA: Funeral prayers have been offered in Barcelona for the prominent businessman and social figure Muhammad Nauman Qaiser, who was allegedly killed in a police encounter in Punjab, according to the family sources.
Hundreds of Pakistanis from across Spain gathered at a local mosque in Spain to offer the funeral prayers of Nauman Qaiser, a popular and prominent local businessman, who was killed on March 11 in Sukkar’s Aboro area in Sindh.
His brothers Imran Muhammad Fardous and Furqan Muhammad Fardous are well-known local businessmen and Pakistan community figures. Prominent among those who attended the funeral was Moonis Elahi, the exiled PTI leader and former federal minister in Imran Khan’s government.
According to the family, Qaiser had been facing a long series of what they described as false and politically motivated cases in Pakistan despite having been honourably acquitted by courts in Spain. They said a case under Section 109 had been registered against him in Pakistan, although Spanish courts had cleared him of allegations, after the Pakistani authorities had approached the Spanish government.
Qaiser travelled to Pakistan after obtaining protective bail in order to prove his innocence in the murder case of his former brother-in-law, who was killed in Lahore by gunmen. However, despite the bail, he was arrested.
Eight months later, he secured bail, but family members claim that immediately after his release on bail, he was again arrested from court premises in what they described as a fabricated case under Article 440. He was later acquitted in that case as well, but was then implicated in another case under Section 506. The Lahore High Court took notice of the matter and directed the police not to register “false” cases against him or arrest him. The court also sought a record of all cases in which the Crime Control Department (CCD) Punjab claimed he was wanted.
The police, CCD and other institutions submitted records before the court and stated that Qaiser was neither wanted nor involved in any case. He was subsequently released from jail, and authorities assured the court that he would not be implicated or arrested in any matter.
On February 1, 2026, Qaiser was taken into custody again after returning from court. Following a fresh petition in the high court, the court expressed strong displeasure and issued notices to the police officials. It then emerged that Qaiser had been implicated in several more cases, including two murder cases under Section 302; in one of those cases, he was in Spain at the time the FIR was registered, while in the other case from Mandi Bahauddin, he was already in jail; and a theft case under Section 395, registered on January 16. The court observed that no case had existed against Qaiser until February 20, raising serious questions about how multiple cases had suddenly surfaced.
Qaiser’s lawyer repeatedly warned in court that his client could be killed in an extrajudicial manner. The court issued strict orders directing all institutions not to proceed against him unlawfully and to ensure his protection. On February 11, Nauman Qaiser was killed in what they described as a “staged police encounter” allegedly carried out by the CCD.
CCD Punjab, however, has denied any involvement in Qaiser’s death. The department said it had not carried out any operation related to his killing and had no connection with the incident.
CCD stated that it had earlier investigated Qaiser in connection with the murder of his brother-in-law, a crime it said had been planned from Dubai, and had examined his alleged role in the matter. However, CCD added that Qaiser had obtained bail in that case and was no longer wanted by the department. It also said that another separate case existed against him with the Punjab Police.
Imran Muhammad Fardous said: “My brother was assassinated in broad daylight in complete violation of the laws. We brought his dead body to Spain for burial after failing to get justice. Our lives are shattered. The Punjab authorities lied that he was killed in Aboro when he refused to stop his bike and opened fire on the police. We have evidence that he was killed locally in Punjab and was not fleeing. This was a murder foretold. We did everything in order to ensure that justice is done but we failed. However, the fight for justice will continue at the international level for my martyred brother.”
