Five gunned down on their way to court

The deceased were defendants in a case alleging attempted murder.

LAHORE:

Five men from an influential local family were gunned down in their car in the Manga Mandi area early on Thursday morning as they travelled to the Sessions Court as defendants in an attempted murder trial.

Haji Barkat Ali, his sons Ahmad Ali and Muhammad Amin, and nephews Muhammad Fiaz and Muhammad Nawaz were travelling with their driver when they were stopped by another car on Do Number Road behind Bahria Town. Four gunmen emerged, told the driver to run away, and then opened fire on the car, killing everyone inside, said witnesses.

They included a group of young schoolchildren. A six-year-old girl told The Express Tribune that she had been walking to school with five other kids when she saw the incident. She said that she and her brother hid behind a wall while the other children lay down on the ground when the shooting started. “We were lucky,” she said.

Nazir Sabir, a teacher who saw the shooting from his house, said that Ali and his family were travelling in a Toyota Corolla when a white Mehran coming from the direction of Bahria Town intercepted them.

“These four men shot at the car from the front and side. They went back to their car, then two of them returned and opened fire again to ensure that everyone was dead. The car then went back inside Bahria Town,” he said.

Locals said that the police did not arrive at the scene until an hour later. They said that Ali’s was an influential local family.

Police said that Saeed, one of four sons of Haji Barkat Ali, was in prison for the murder of his brother’s brother-in-law, named Anwar.

They said Anwar’s brother Kalo had also recently been the target of a murder attempt. Ali and the four other deceased were accused in the case and a hearing had been due on Thursday. Senior Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Zulfiqar Cheema said that the police were questioning the driver who had fled the scene and expected to get some valuable leads from him. He said that the shooting occurred at around 7:15am.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17th, 2011.