Family feud: Son kills father for inheritance

Yar had threatened to kill his father for refusing to hand over his property.

FAISALABAD:

A man shot his father over property on Wednesday.

According to police officials, Mozaha Salaria resident Ghulam Haider’s son Muhammad Yar had been demanding his share of property from his father but was repeatedly denied. On Wednesday, Yar and two of his accomplices opened fire on Ghulam Haider while he was in his house.

Residents of Sadar Chiniot told police officials that they had witnessed repeated altercations between Yar and his father. “They quarrelled openly over the property and Haider had even publicly slapped his son for demanding his property share,” said a neighbour Rasheed Alvi.

Yar said that his father had seized his property and agricultural land near the Chiniot Police Station.

“He kept saying the land was his but his father had transferred the papers to his name and would not pass it on to him. He told dozens of people that he thought his father would try to give the property to his brother rather than him,” Alvi told police officials.

Ghulam Haider reportedly refused to transfer the property to his son during his lifetime. “He always said that he would not give him anything while he was alive because Yar was unworthy and would squander it away. He said that he would have disinherited him if he could,” said Haider’s brother Akmal.

According to police officials, they discovered Haider’s body hidden in a cupboard in his house after his neighbours called in the shooting. “He was awash in blood and he had been shot eleven times,” said a police inspector from the Chiniot Sadar police station.

Locals in the area told police officials that they were sure Haider had been murdered by his son. “Yar often threatened to kill his father in public and he even boasted that the man would not live long and he would soon have his property,” Alvi said.

On Tuesday night, Muhammad Yar along with two other accomplices, Manzoor and Zahoor, allegedly opened fire on Ghulam Haidar and hid his body in his cupboard before fleeing the area. Police officials ordered an autopsy of the body and have returned the body to the family for burial. “Haider was shot at point blank range at least eleven times. Most likely, while he was asleep,” the autopsy report read.

Sadar Police Chiniot have registered a case under Sections 302, 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against Muhammad Yar and his two accomplices. However, the accused are still at large and police officials are searching for their whereabouts.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2011.