Three brothers killed in ambush

Victims were on way for hearing of firing case in Pakpattan

PAKPATTAN:

Three brothers, including a former vice chairman of a union council, were shot dead over enmity while going to court for the hearing of a case in Pakpattan on Wednesday.

The attackers escaped while brandishing weapons after ensuring the death of the victims in the ambush.

According to police officials, former UC vice chairman Irshad Khokhara d his brothers Tanveer and Mumtaz Khokhar, residents of the 72D area in Malika Hans, were going on a motorcycle to appear in court when the attackers ambushed them near Jamal Kot bridge.

All three of them died on the spot as a result of the firing.

Malika Hans police sources said there had been longstanding enmity between the deceased and a rival group.

Police, Rescue 1122 and crime scene teams reached the spot after the inicident.

The police shifted the bodies to the district headquarters hospital for postmortem. The bodies were handed over to the heirs after postmortem.

Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi sought a report from the inspector general of police about the murder and directed him to ensure the arrest of the killers.

After the incident, District Police Officer Syed Tauseef Haider replaced Malika Hans Police Station SHO Ashiq Abid Mehar. The bodies were handed over to the heirs after the post-mortem.

Malika Hans police registered the first information report (FIR) of the incident against six nominated and two unknown people.

The case was registered against Zafar, Asif, Farooq, Faiz, Imran, Adnan and two others.

However, none of the suspects had been arrested till late evening.

The police sources said the brothers came under attack when they were going to the court for the hearing of a case registered against the suspects after Irshad Khohar was shot in the leg, resulting in amputation. The hearing was scheduled in the court of Civil Judge Ahmed Waqas.

Both the rival groups had lodged a number of cases against each other, including a murder case against Irshad and others from which he had been acquitted.

The DPO formed a team headed by the Saddar SDPO to arrest the suspects.

They police said they were conducting raids to arrest the murderers.

IG Faisal Shahkar also sought a report about the incident from the Sahiwal regional police officer. He said all resources should be utilised to ensure justice in the case.

The news of the murder of the three brothers led to an atmosphere on gloom in their village.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2022.