Land dispute: 80-year-old burnt with acid

Ellahi Bakhsh's survival chances are low, says doctor.

TAUNS: An 80-year-old man has received severe burns on the right side on his body after four men allegedly threw acid on him over a land dispute.

A doctor at medical ward no5 of the Nishter Hospital said the chances of Ellahi Bakhsh, a Taunsa resident,’s survival were low. If he does, the doctor said, he might still lose his eyes and right ear. “We can only say something with certainty by Saturday,” he said.

Retra police have registered an FIR (no5/2011) against Ghulam Rasool, Shehzad, Akhtar and Sajjad under sections 324/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Assistant sub inspector (ASI) Fakhar Mushtaq told The Express Tribune that he had formed a raiding team to trace the accused. During investigations, he said, Shehzad’s brother had told the police that all four had fled to the tribal areas in Dera Ghazi Khan. ASI Mushtaq said he had directed the police to make sketches of the accused and circulate them among the Border Military Police. He said he suspected that the accused might try to run off to Balochistan.

Rasool (the prime accused) and Bakhsh together owned eight acres of land in Taunsa. Bakhsh’s son, Ghulam Abbass, said the accused beat up his father and threw acid on him on after he decided to break away from him.

“He (Rasool) used to take a major chunk of the produce, even though his labour during the sowing and cultivation phase was always less than my father,” Abbass said. He added that his father complained several times but Rasool did not listen.

Eventually, he said, his father decided to divide the land into two four-acre portions. He said he feared the police would stop pursuing the case because the accused were influential. Shehzad, he said, was a notorious criminal in the area but the police never took action against him.

“There are several complaints against him with the police,” he said.

The names of Shehzad and other two were added to the FIR after some villagers told the police that they had witnessed them at the crime, he said.

Dr Noor Mehdi at the Nishter Hospital said that Bakhsh’s chances of survival were low. “The acid has almost completely damaged Bakhsh’s eyes and right ear.

There is only a two per cent chance of saving his eyes,” he said. He added that doctors would open the bandage around his eyes on Saturday. “The acid has burnt almost the entire right side,” he said.

Bakhsh was earlier taken to the Taunsa tehsil headquarters (THQ) hospital.

Dr Sher Muhammad, the medical superintendent, said they gave first aid to Bakhsh but his condition was critical so he referred him to Nishter Hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2011.