The world seems to be obsessed with serial killers. There are dozens of biopics and documentaries on Netflix and YouTube, glamorizing history’s most infamous individuals. When you hear the word “serial killer” the obvious names that come to mind are Son of Sam, Ted Bundy or John Wayne Gacy.
These killers are/were horrific individuals who are only famous due to the Hollywood publicity. However, their crimes pale in comparison to one Pakistani serial killer, Javed Iqbal.
Who is Javed Iqbal?
Born in 1956, Javed Iqbal came from a wealthy family. He had six siblings (all boys) and his father was a trader, Mohammad Ali Mughal with two villas. Iqbal studied at Islamia College in 1978 and later started his own business. However, he harboured a dark side that made him go on to become one of the most nightmarish killers the world has ever known.
Here are a few haunting facts about Pakistan’s most sadistic serial killer that will send chills down your spine.
Modus Operandi
Javed Iqbal wasn’t just an evil man, he was a cold, calculated individual with an extremely elaborate MO. After his first few kills, he decided it would be more convenient to lure his victims rather hunt them down. Since all of his victims are kids, from ages 6 to 16, Javed set up a videogame arcade business.
At the time, a gaming arcade was every child’s favorite place to be at. Thus, the business venture proved to be a success for Javed, who would go on to play a twisted game of cat and mouse with the innocent children. He offered free tokens to young boys to gain their trust. Other times, he would drop money on the floor wait and watch a boy pick it up. Then, he would catch the “thief” and take him to the back room, where he would rape them.
In his journal, Javed has admitted to letting go one or two boys, feeling bad for them. Others were not so fortunate as he would take them to his place, strangling them to death and dumping their bodies someplace where no one will ever find them.
One of the reasons why Javed was able to get away was his victim pool. Javed would stalk runaways and unaccounted children whom the police did not bother to look for.
His Accomplices
Much like the infamous American serial killer Dean Arnold Corli (The Candy Man), Javed Iqbal used children to lure his victims. Javed had one to three accomplices in total. Not willing to risk recruiting grown men, who may go against him, Javed would brainwash young teen runaways to do his biding.
As mentioned earlier, the man had a way of befriending children and gaining their trust. Thus, it was easy for him to find a few children that shared his evil vision. He and his accomplices lived together in a three bedroom flat.
The three infamous accomplices who would join Javed’s court trial were; Sajid Ahmed, a 17-year-old boy, 15-year-old Mohammad Nadeem (sentenced to 182 years in prison for 13 murders), and 13-year-old Mohammad Sabir (sentenced to 63 years in prison).
The Cry of 100 Mothers
Murder is a heinous crime, to commit it 100 times over is what makes Javed Iqbal truly a sadistic monster. However, it wasn’t the police that stopped him from killing anymore children, it was Javed himself after reaching his gruesome milestone. There was a reason behind the number of his victims and his insatiable bloodlust.
According to sources, Javed had dark fantasies since childhood. Before he began his killing spree, Javed was arrested for sexual assaults. Despite his psychotic nature, Javed Iqbal was extremely close with his mother, who died during his incarceration at the time.
“My mother cried for me. I wanted 100 mothers to cry for their children,” Javed Iqbal said in his confession.
The loss of his mother and the police’s alleged brutality set him on a murderous path and setting out to do exactly what he promised himself. He even taunted authorities later on that he could have easily killed 500 or more children but he stopped because he made a promise to himself to kill exactly 100 children, no more, no less.
Confessions of a Serial Killer
Javed Iqbal’s reign of terror came to an end on 30 December 1999, but it was no thanks to the police. As mentioned earlier, Javed fulfilled his promise and had no reason to carry on. Much like all serial killers, he wanted the attention.
Just days before his arrest, Javed wrote a letter addressed to the police and Daily Jang’s Chief news editor Khawar Naeem Hashmi, detailing his crimes in gruesome details. He even kept detail records, including a 32-page journal, that graphically described his murders.
In fact, on 30 December 1999, he walked into the offices of Daily Jang, making a full public confession of his crimes as the police came to arrest him.
Vats of Lost Children
One of the most gruesome details revealed during Javed Iqbal’s confession was his disposal of the bodies. Much like American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and Breaking Bad‘s Walter White, Pakistan’s notorious serial killer was using large vats of hydrochloric acid to dump the bodies of his victims.
The extremely corrosive chemical dissolved the bodies, erasing all remains of the 100 innocent souls from the world. Only two vats were found by police that contained human remains, strengthening the case against the serial killer.
Conviction
There was a nationwide outcry against Javed Iqbal. The public, as well as authorities wanted more than just a simple death penalty. According to reports, the judge in Javed Iqbal’s case had a sinister punishment in mind. He ruled for Javed to be strangled with the same chain he used on his victims. His body to be cut up into 100 pieces. And his remains to be dumped in a vat of acid.
Unfortunately, Javed had the last laugh, escaping his punishment. On 8 October 2001, he and his accomplice, Sajid Ahmed, committed suicide. The serial killer was found hanging by his neck in his jail cell.
Recently, Director Abu Aleeha, along with Yasir Hussain and Ayesha Omar, made Javed Iqbal: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer. Following the trends of Hollywood, the film was supposed to be Pakistan’s arrival in the True-Crime genre but the Punjab government barred its release in Pakistan.
Even though, the film was cleared by the Censor Board, the film is still banned in Pakistan. Perhaps, the film is a haunting reminder of Punjab Govt.’s lack of awareness about a serial killer operating with impunity. Either way, Javed Iqbal is a dark chapter in our nation’s history. A grim tale we tell our children at night, that there are real monsters in this world.
