“They broke into our house in Bahawalpur and took everything we owned,” Zubaida told a fact-finding mission from Pakistan’s foremost rights group, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

“We followed them to Lahore and begged for our sons’ release. The next morning, five of them were dead,” she added.

When she later filed a legal petition, Zubaida says police threatened to kill whoever remained in her family if she did not withdraw it.

Her husband, Abdul Jabbar, insists his sons had no criminal records. “They were working men, married with children,” he said.