Pakistani Serial Killer

Pakistani Serial Killer

The Disturbing Tale of a Pakistani Serial Killer

Pakistani Serial Killer

Who Deserve a Death Sentence

A tooth for a truth: whoever kills an innocent human shall definitely be given the death sentence. These are biblical things explaining retributive justice—a doctrine that is about the notion of punishing offenders as much as the offense. It was so in the case of Javed Iqbal. Today, let us look at Pakistani serial killer extraordinaire, Javed Iqbal.

The Chilling Confession Letter


A local paper and the police in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, received a chilling letter in early December 1999. The letter was written by someone who stated that he had killed 100 boys—street runaways and orphans aged between 6 and 16.

The author of the letter admitted to enticing the boys off the streets of Lahore into his house, raping and strangling them to death.

He then chopped the boys’ bodies into pieces and poured them into vats of hydrochloric and sulfuric acid to eliminate evidence. The parts of the bodies that were not dissolved were thrown away in a river nearby.


The letter contained instructions to the killer’s residence, where authorities would be able to uncover even more evidence. The killer ended the letter with a statement that he would shortly drown himself in the Ravi River.


The police arrived at the house on Ravi Road in what is also known as the city’s slums and found the walls and floor of the residence splattered with blood. There were also pictures of boys and adolescents everywhere around the house, as well as note cards.

 That contained full details regarding the boys, including their names, age, appearance, and precise date of death. Moreover, there was a chain that was employed to hang the victims until dead by strangulation.

Police then found two large drums containing partially decomposed bodies of three boys submerged in acid. The murderer clearly didn’t dispose of the body parts of the victims, so the authorities would be able to find them. Other things that were recovered from the house were clothes and shoes, which the grief-stricken parents of the boys had to sift through.


Four accomplices—all teenage boys who lived in a three-bedroom house with the murderer—were arrested immediately. Within days, one of them had died in police custody. 

The autopsy indicated police force was employed, but authorities claimed no involvement, stating that the boy jumped out of a window. The killer, though, was nowhere to be seen. Police went to the Ravi River where the killer said he was heading to drown himself but returned empty-handed. Presuming that the murderer was alive, the largest manhunt in Pakistani history took place to capture him before he murdered again.


The police continued to fail. On December 30, 1999, almost a month since the accomplices had been arrested, the murderer turned himself in. Rather than reporting to the police, he reported to the Daily Jang newspaper and came with a 32-page journal that had complete descriptions and photos of his killing of the boys.

When asked why he didn’t report to the police, he said he was afraid for his life and feared that the police would have killed him. The authorities were summoned, and they took him into custody. The murderer allegedly did not feel any remorse for his deeds. He just uttered:

“I am Javed Iqbal, 100 children’s killer. I hate this world. I am not ashamed of what I did, and I am ready to die. I have no regrets. I killed 100 children.”

Background of a Pakistani serial killer


Iqbal was born in 1956 in Lahore as the sixth out of eight siblings and the fourth son of a rich businessman. His brother says that Javed was spoiled as a child and was extremely hard to manage. He was violent and used to kill animals for fun when he was a kid.

 In spite of all this, he was always on top of his class. In 1978, Javed studied at the Government Islamia College in Lahore and resided in a villa his father had purchased for him. His father assisted him in establishing a business with an engineering factory when he dropped out of college.


Javed evidently hired numerous young boys, since child labor is prevalent in Pakistan. This is when his brother suspected Javed developed a fondness for minors. His parents were aware of his preference for young boys but wished that he could lead a normal life.

They convinced him to marry, but Javed turned down this offer. He did so on the condition that he was allowed to select his wife—contrary to the practice of arranged marriages in the country. He later on was found to have married the elder sister of one of his victims.


Javed became increasingly intrigued with young boys over the following couple of years. He had several complaints lodged against him, on the charges of sexual assault and sodomizing children. Since his father was a highly respected and influential businessman in Lahore, everyone suspected that his father used his power to prevent his favorite son from going to jail.

However, in 1991, Javed was arrested for raping two young boys, and it was then that his family actually realized his deviant behavior. He was married for ten years and had a daughter at the time. The humiliation the arrest caused his family resulted in them disowning Javed. His wife also abandoned him.


Some years went by, and then his father died in 1993. Javed, who was in his late 30s, inherited over 3 million rupees. He spent all that money buying a mansion and several cars. This mansion had a pool. He would call young boys to the pool and record them while they swam. Javed hosted numerous parties at the mansion, where his visitors were the poor boys whom he lured with food and accommodation.

Descent into Madness


Javed also employed his wealth in businesses that supported his sexual perversion—businesses that catered to young boys and teenagers whom he could take advantage of.

 One of the first of these was a video game arcade, the first such arcade in Lahore, and it was very popular with children. Javed provided young boys with cut-rate games or free tokens. He also would occasionally drop money on the ground intentionally to see if the boys would pick it up.

He accused them of stealing and brought the “perpetrator” into a back room for punishment, which was molestation. Occasionally he would release the boys, but sometimes he took the boys to his mansion, and they were never seen or heard from again.


Soon local parents prohibited their kids from going to the arcade. As it shut down, Javed opened other ventures with the same aim of enticing young boys—an aquarium, a gym, a general store, and even a school. But parents banned their children from entering after they discovered Javed was the owner.
Javed also met boys from pen pal schemes and children’s magazines. He persuaded them to send photos of themselves and set up meetings with those he found appealing.

Turning Point


In September 1998, Javed was mugged and brutally beaten. He received a head injury so severe that it left him in a coma for 22 days in the hospital. When released, he was arrested and charged with sodomy.

One of his staff, Arbab, complained of sexual assault. Javed was given bail, but upon his return home, discovered that his mansion, vehicles, and businesses were sold to offset his medical bills. Homeless and penniless, Javed rented a residence in Ghaziabad, Lahore slums.


He started preying on boys once more—but this time, killing them afterwards. He roamed Lahore’s streets, attacking runaways and orphans. Many of the boys were beggars or belonged to poor families and simply disappeared. Parents who attempted to report them were dismissed by police.

Confession and Trial


Once he was arrested, Javed boasted that he had been capable of murdering more boys. Under testimony, he told of luring children to his residence on promises of food, work, and lodging, only to torture and kill them. He broke their bones and flesh up with acid and emptied the pieces down sewers or rivers.


Javed said his offenses were in retaliation for police brutality and his mother’s death. He recanted his confession in court, however, and insisted he was innocent and had been coerced into the confession. He even said 20 friends of his committed the killings. read about the Elisa Lam case here.


The 32-page diary he handed over to the Daily Jang—full of gruesome facts and photos—sealed his fate. He was sentenced to death on March 15, 2000, in a landmark judgment: he would be strangled using the same chain he had used on his victims, cut into pieces, and dissolved in acid.

Death and Legacy



Prior to the sentence being executed, Javed and his primary co-conspirator, Sajid Ahmed, were discovered dead in their jail cells on October 8, 2001. They had been strangled with bed sheets, with evidence of foul play. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Pakistan


A movie based on Pakistani serial killer offenses was banned in 2022, triggering arguments regarding censorship and social problems. His case revealed the risks marginalized children face and systemic breakdowns in safeguarding them.


Javed Iqbal’s heinous crimes compelled Pakistan to face the unpleasant realities—but at the expense of 100 innocent lives.

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