Violence continues: Shootouts in Pindi

Two die, one critically injured in third incident of firing in the locality.

RAWALPINDI: Fear gripped the neighbourhood of Dhok Khabba following the murder of two in a market on Tuesday. It was the third such incident within a week in the locality.

Witnesses told the police that three men armed with pistols opened fire on Ijaz Hussain, Zulfiqar Ahmed and Safdar Khan---three friends who were sitting in a shop.

The three injured were then shifted to District Headquarters Hospital, where Hussain and Ahmed were pronounced dead while Khan’s condition was critical. He had multiple bullet wounds on his body, police said.

“According to eyewitnesses the assailants came in a vehicle and parked it at some distance,” said the investigation officer.

However, the Waris Khan police were not certain of the details of the incident. “I will go and check the crime scene and talk to the people to ascertain the facts,” said the investigation officer Ameer Gondal, while talking to The Express Tribune after almost four hours of the killings. “We still have to count the number of empty bullets recovered from the scene,” he added.

Moreover, an eyewitness, Usman Rashid said, “I was busy in my shop when I suddenly heard a noise. I thought a tyre had burst. I rushed to the spot to find three men lying in a pool of blood.”

He further said that he could not see how many people opened fire even though the firing continued for quite some time. “It appeared as there was more than one person involved in the act,” he added.

The police said the assailants had some personal score to settle with the men killed. “They had some money issues but the exact nature of the dispute was not known as yet,” said the Ameer Gondal. “The family has also not nominated any one in particular in their application for the FIR,” he added.

The assailants could not be identified and the injured man was not in a position to give his statement to the police. His account would be crucial in identifying the assailants, said the police.

“It is horrible that people are being killed in broad daylight while police were not doing anything to stop it,” said Imran Hussain, a resident of Dhok Khabba.

The post mortem of the bodies could not be conducted till the filing of this report as the hospital officials maintained they were waiting for the night shift staff to arrive. Witnesses further said that it was unfortunate that three people were killed in two weeks in the area.

“People are frightened. They are feeling unsafe. The children are scared of going to school. No one is feeling safe in the neighbourhood,” said Ali Hassan, a resident of the area.

“Culprits are roaming free and the police are sitting idle,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2011.