Four accused in Phularwan mass murder case surrender

Prime suspect Iftikhar Lathia secures pre-arrest bail from an anti-terrorism court

LAHORE: Four accused involved in the murder of five members of a family a few days back in Barki area surrendered before police on Saturday.

A total of nine accused persons were nominated in the FIR registered in the mass murder case. However, police had miserably failed to arrest any of the nominated accused.



On Saturday, the prime suspect Iftikhar Lathia, after securing a pre-arrest bail from an anti-terrorism court, along with his three sons who were also nominated in the incident, surrendered before police at DIG investigations office.

As far as the efforts by police to arrest the suspects were concerned, multiple teams were formed that were conducting raids at different places to arrest the suspects. It also had arrested over 20 people related to the suspects to know the whereabouts of the accused. Police had also written a letter to the authorities concerned to put the names of the accused on the Exit Control List and asked NADRA to block their CNICs so that they could not even travel by air in Pakistan, buy a new SIM or use their CNIC for any other purpose.

Old enmities run deep and a stark reminder of this was the murder of five members of a family, including two teenaged boys, who were shot dead on Tuesday morning (August 7) in Barki area of Lahore.

The bitter rivalry started in 2007 over a land dispute which has already claimed nine lives. Seven of the slain individuals belonged to the Lathia group and two were from the Kothi Wala group. A total of five members, from both groups, were in jail for these murders.



The victims, residents of Phularwan village, had set off on a tractor trolley to bring fodder from nearby fields for the animals. They were halfway across their journey when the assailants, heavily armed with sophisticated weapons, ambushed the victims. They opened indiscriminate fire, leaving the victims in a pool of blood. The gunmen fled from the scene after carrying out the attack. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2018.